Gratitude

I have had an experience today that makes this jaded, negative old lady think that there really are honest, trustworthy people still left in this world after all.

I don't know if other people my age sometimes tend to see the world and all its problems in a somewhat gloomy way or not. I am not the same idealitic person that I was as a young girl. The problems of life tend to take some of the bouyancy and charm of the younger years away, and in their place make a darker, meaner world.

Anyway, today we met Paul's sister Alice and her husband Willard at Archibald's Restaurant in Gardner Village for lunch. As we sat down in a booth, I felt around my neck for the necklace I thought I had put on. I then assumed that I had just forgotten to wear it.

When I got home, the first thing I did was look in my jewelry case for the necklace. It wasn't there. I knew that I had lost it. The clasp must have sprung open, and the necklace must have fallen to the ground. We looked all over the house and in the car with no results. I called the restaurant with the slim hope that someone had found the necklace and given it to an employee at the restaurant. I was shocked that someone had found it and turned it in!

This is a special necklace that Paul bought me on our recent cruise in the Mediterranean. He saw it in the window of a jewelry shop, and even though it cost $500.00, he loved it and bought it for me. I have worn it almost daily since we have been home from our trip.

To think that an honest person found this treasured necklace and didn't just pocket it gives me a glow of happiness. Maybe my focus on the few crooks, terrorists, Wall Street thugs, etc. that we see each day on the TV news and read about in the newspaper should be refocused to a more optimistic view that most people, after all, are pretty decent.

THANK YOU, KIND PERSON, for giving me not only my treasured necklace back, but also giving me a heartfelt smile to carry throughout this Christmas season of love and giving.