So I had gone with a couple of friends to a Terry Brooks reading/signing at the Michigan Ave Borders, because one of said friends is both a big Brooks fan, and an on-line bookseller, and had four shopping bags of books to get signed (both personal collection, and sales stock). I and the other went along as a favor to help wrangle books and because I have a car (transporting four shopping bags of books on CTA is nigh unthinkable). So the signing went well, Brooks was very friendly and chatty and had no problem signing piles of books, and even the Borders staff person did not make a big deal of it, simply asked people with many books to wait for the end of the line.
After the signing, bookseller-friend bought us dinner as thanks, and then we went home. Because of the number of books he had to wrangle, I decided to drop him off at his door rather than walk the couple of blocks home from my place; simple courtesy. To get to his building, I drove down a street I normally almost never use. Since it's still relatively close to me, I was driving slowly on the off chance there might be an open parking spot (there's nothing but street parking in our neighborhood). It being almost fall, there was the normal detritus of papers and fallen leaves blowing about the street, but I passed by something that did not quite look like leaves. In fact, it looked rather more like several dollar bills on the road. I quickly dismissed this thought as highly improbably, but half a block on, I figured, "ya know, there's no harm in stopping to look, and it's possible someone might have dropped a couple of bucks out of their pocket," so I stopped, backed up, and hopped out. It turned out that it was not dollar bills. It was, in fact <i>twenty</i> dollar bills. <b>Five</b> of them! One hundred dollars, just blowing about on the street! No wallet, no identification of any kind, no possible way to find an owner, just loose twenty dollar bills!!
I was, and still am, astonished, speechless, flabbergasted! You just don't find a hundred dollars lying around on the street! It just doesn't happen! And what are the odds of me coming along at just that moment to find it? It was kind of a windy night, and there was other traffic about. And just when I so happen to desperately need it! Fate? Karma? Divine Intervention? Dumb Happenstance? I have no clue, but I'm not complaining. I've had plenty of bad crap fall out of the sky on me just as randomly in my life, so maybe it's best not to question too much, but just be thankful.
I feel bad for whomever lost it, but it just goes to show you: be careful of what you have or you just might lose it. And stay alert to the world around you, 'cause you never know what you might find.
Peace!
After the signing, bookseller-friend bought us dinner as thanks, and then we went home. Because of the number of books he had to wrangle, I decided to drop him off at his door rather than walk the couple of blocks home from my place; simple courtesy. To get to his building, I drove down a street I normally almost never use. Since it's still relatively close to me, I was driving slowly on the off chance there might be an open parking spot (there's nothing but street parking in our neighborhood). It being almost fall, there was the normal detritus of papers and fallen leaves blowing about the street, but I passed by something that did not quite look like leaves. In fact, it looked rather more like several dollar bills on the road. I quickly dismissed this thought as highly improbably, but half a block on, I figured, "ya know, there's no harm in stopping to look, and it's possible someone might have dropped a couple of bucks out of their pocket," so I stopped, backed up, and hopped out. It turned out that it was not dollar bills. It was, in fact <i>twenty</i> dollar bills. <b>Five</b> of them! One hundred dollars, just blowing about on the street! No wallet, no identification of any kind, no possible way to find an owner, just loose twenty dollar bills!!
I was, and still am, astonished, speechless, flabbergasted! You just don't find a hundred dollars lying around on the street! It just doesn't happen! And what are the odds of me coming along at just that moment to find it? It was kind of a windy night, and there was other traffic about. And just when I so happen to desperately need it! Fate? Karma? Divine Intervention? Dumb Happenstance? I have no clue, but I'm not complaining. I've had plenty of bad crap fall out of the sky on me just as randomly in my life, so maybe it's best not to question too much, but just be thankful.
I feel bad for whomever lost it, but it just goes to show you: be careful of what you have or you just might lose it. And stay alert to the world around you, 'cause you never know what you might find.
Peace!
Unfortunately the birthday party is off, no rescheduling.