Prologue:

Last week, I was downstate at my parents’ place before Steph & Jeff’s wedding and before we road-tripped it to the lovely Shenandoah region. (Israel is the speaker for SVA’s fall week of prayer…it’s really beautiful here!!) My little brother came over to hang especially since our sister, Julie, was moving to Guam soon. Well, to make a long story shorter, we ate, slept, golfed, and played my parents’ favorite card game called “hula”. Now, our family typically doesn’t promote the habit of gambling however, between family, gamble is what we do. Most of us see it as an opportunity to help each other financially…as this story will prove.

The Case of the Forgotten Wallet

Last Friday, Julie’s flight to Cali was early in the morning. I was going to take her and Justin so graciously let me drive his car…since he didn’t have to work until later. My sister and I left at about 6am while everyone else was still sleeping. (Although she did wake everyone up to say bye.) I drove her there and then headed home. What I didn’t realize was how much construction was going on on the way home! The ramp from 94 to 275 was closed. But I must have missed the sign because next thing I knew I was beginning to see signs for Ann Arbor exits! With no phone and no GPS, I ended up taking the unabridged scenic route home. Not only that, but I was panicking because I didn’t want to make Jutin late for work since I was driving his car. By the time I got home, the gas was also running low, but the good news was that Justin was still sleeping. I woke him up and he rushed off to work.

Later that day, I received a phone call from Justin. He went to the gas station to fill up gas, when he realized he didn’t have his wallet! He had left it at my parents’ house! When I asked him what he did, he shared how he still had his hula earnings (in cash money…that’s how we roll) in his pocket so he was able to pay for some gas. Good thing! Well, I found his wallet at home and stuck it in my bag so I would have it the next time we met up.

On Saturday evening, I was talking to my sister on the phone and I decided to drop by Target to get a few items. The boys were in bed already and so I took my dad’s car and headed over. The number one item on my list was sweets to give my boys as an incentive to do well at the wedding. Then I wanted to look into getting one of those belly bands to help me fit into all of my pants that are slightly too small still. I’ve refused to buy any new pants that are larger than size 6. So off to Target I went at 9:15pm.

It was nice to be chatting on the phone with my sister and strolling through the store in complete freedom and independence. I got snacks, sweets, gum, and the BeBand. I pretty much got carried away with the time. And the next thing you know I heard some announcement about the store closing. So I got off the phone and headed over to check out. But none of the registers were open. I momentarily panicked as I realized I was the only customer in the whole store AND they had already locked up the store! One guy spotted me and said,”We didn’t know you were in here! But we can open a register for you.” Apparently the announcement was for store employees! Whoops! I thanked him and he asked another lady to check me out. So, she reopened the register and as she began scanning my items, all of the employees congregated by that register…it seemed like they were going to have some sort of meeting or something. Then, my worst nightmare occurred.

Before she was done scanning all of my stuff I went into my bag to get my wallet. No wallet. My palms became sweaty and I felt myself turning red. Inside I was panicking. I kept looking and looking. Not only did I not have my wallet, I was the last customer in the store and the store had already closed like 10 minutes ago and they were all waiting on me! All of the employees were staring at me and I didn’t know what to do.

Then, I spotted the hula cash. It wouldn’t cover everything, but I just handed it to the lady to buy some time. THEN, I spotted Justin’s wallet. I knew he was poor but after paying half of the bill with the hula cash, I figured he should have enough money to cover me. No cash in his wallet. Only a couple credit cards and his debit card. I told the lady I had to make a phone call. I wanted to make sure this transaction wouldn’t result in any overdraft fees for my bro. If so, I’d have to go through the embarrassment of choosing which items I could afford and which ones to return…They’d most likely have to redo the transaction all over again and they wouldn’t be too pleased. I tried calling Justin but no answer. Of course. Now the group of employees were starting to get impatient. So, I just grabbed Justin’s bank debit card and swiped hoping it’d go through and that they wouldn’t ask for ID. It did and I zoomed out of there. I was the last car in the parking lot.

The morals of this story are simple but multitudinous:
1. Bring your cell phone while driving.
2. In Michigan, keep in mind that there is always construction on all major freeways.
3. Don’t let your gas level get too low.
4. Remember to keep your wallet with you at all times.
5. Sometimes it helps to have an extra wallet handy.
6. Even if you forget these things, a little hula cash can save the day!

Epilogue:

I did end up getting in touch with Justin later that night and the card that I used was fine. In fact, now that I think about it, I haven’t paid him back yet. I’ll have to do that when we get back…