BY JOELLEN COLLINS
When I awoke, on Sunday, March 8, I felt positive about observing the renewal of daylight savings time. However, my increased daylight hours are not always filled with the wise-awake consciousness I hope to have.
So, I checked my clocks, my phone, and my always trusted Alexa device for an hour earlier than usual, to be sure I hadn’t made some stupid mistake before sleeping. I started soon-to-leave chores, in preparation for church.
As we age, our short-term memory is often chancy, so when I called Uber, I realized that I still needed a bit more time before leaving my apartment, even if just a few minutes. I requested a short time for them to meet me, and was given the arrival time at 10 minutes, barely enough time to be ready. Within seconds I got a call-back message announcing that my Uber would be getting me in one minute, so I dashed for the car rather hastily, not sure if I had everything I needed. I “got to the church” on time.
After church, I waited for a ride, courtesy of my residence that takes me home on Sunday, but they thought I didn’t need a car this week. So, I called another Uber, planning to stop at a nearby Safeway and then walk the rest of the way home. I didn’t want to haul too many heavy items for one bag, so I took two into the market with my purse and a list.
After shopping, I put my clunky purse on the bottom of the shopping cart, added some extra groceries, and left some room in the regular basket for a few items that might be bulky or difficult to carry home. When I found a bench outside, I stopped, transferred the heavy items into the two bags and easily balanced them on each shoulder. My walk home was not too strenuous, so I went to my room and unpacked the groceries. Then, I looked for my purse to check my receipt.
NO PURSE! Heart beating, I sped back to the front desk of my residence, shaking with the obvious fear that someone now had my credit card, cash, and phone, most likely easily taken from the basket left outside. One of our kind staff got a car and we rushed down to the market.
The chances were slim that it hadn’t been taken. A young market assistant was sitting on the bench where I had left my now-absent shopping cart. He told me it had been found and was inside Safeway. I was floored to get back my purse and everything in it!
I certainly will keep going to Safeway and give a small but heartfelt note to the manager and a reward for the decent young employee who did the right thing. I later found that he had been waiting at the bench in hopes of finding the purse’s owner.
Although I am, I don’t want to be the absent-minded professor (now “emeritus”) my mother called me but am also a very grateful person once again reminded of the decency we can cherish and preserve.