Good karma in ABQ

Maggie says:
Yesterday, in a car full of friends en route to eat Salvadoran food in the South Valley, my cell phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, so I let it go to voicemail. Turns out it was a guy parked on Lomas and 5th who'd found my wallet lying in the middle of the street. I looked in my purse - sure enough, no wallet. Oops.

I have this bright avocado-green wallet perfect for being noticed if it was lying in the middle of the road. And it was, apparently, because the guy pulled over, went out in the street to retrieve it, somehow found my phone number, and called me. Then he waited as we navigated our way through street closings downtown to backtrack to Lomas, where he was parked near a pawn shop.

I have no idea how my wallet escaped not just my purse, but also my car, and landed into his hands. One friend guessed I'd placed it on top of my car when I was getting gas. I was on the phone with him then, flustered because I thought I'd be late to meet everyone for dinner. Maybe that's the case. And if it is, I like to think of the infinite possibilities symbolized by my bright green wallet bouncing around on top of my white car as I drove all the way down Lomas from San Pedro, when it finally decided to fall off around 5th Street.

How funny that it fell off in that spot. How funny that he found it. And all before I knew it was even gone...

He couldn't have been nicer. A total tough guy at first glance, but full of my kind of talk when he opened his mouth.

"I lost my bag last week," he explained to me. "I spent two days not being able to sleep, worrying about everything in that bag. And then someone called me when they found it. When I saw your wallet, I wanted to call you."

"You know... good karma and all."

Oh, I know. My friend who figured I left my wallet on top of the car at the gas station fully understands how careless I can be. After all, he's known me for just about ten years and has seen me leave my wallet at countless restaurants, bookstore shelves, and just about everywhere... and without much consequence beyond nuisance ever happening as a result.

"You always have the best luck," he smiled, shaking his head at me.

Good luck plus a karmic good soul in Albuquerque... now that's a pretty heart-warming combination.

Or at least, a wallet back in my purse today.