There is Good.

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but the full moon the other day had taken total control over south Florida.  It started in the morning, with one thing after the other.  More chaos then normal for a Wednesday.  Then by 3pm we had received news of a fatal car accident on the reservation, and someone had been airlifted out.  We passed the remnants of the accident on our way out of the office and it made my stomach turn.  One of the worst accidents I have ever seen.  My carpool drove a good chunk of the way home in silence, but then someone broke it, and the rest of the way home became a platform for everyone to complain about every single annoying thing at work.  I hate listening to those conversations.  By the time we got off the highway I was more than ready to get home.  But then we came to a complete stop and could see flashing lights ahead.  Another accident.  The full force of "Florida" drivers came out, honking, yelling, a flipping each other off as police made us go from 4 lanes down to 1.  Typical--perspective always goes out the window.  When we finally drove by the scene of the accident, my stomach turned again- this time an ambulance had rolled multiple times.  What was going on today?

When we finally and safely made it back to the carpool pickup spot, I got in my car and called Bobby to tell him I was on my way home.  He didn't sound like his usual self and I quickly asked what was wrong. "My wallet was stolen today".  sigh...

He had gone to the dry cleaners to pick something up and accidentally left it on the counter.  When he finally realized and called the store to check, it was no where to be found.  When I got home we double and triple checked our bank account, no unusual charges.  Around 9pm as I was about to head off to bed, I nagged Bobby one last time to make sure to cancel his card and order a new drivers license.  He told me he would wait until morning, just in case.  By then I was a bit moody and huffed down onto the couch, grabbing the laptop and looked up the website to order his new drivers license myself.  The local news headlines flashed before my eyes, showing me breaking news of a murder/hit and run that happened a few miles away earlier that evening.

I jumped as I heard loud banging on our front door.  It was 9:30-- who could that be?  We didn't answer, and they kept knocking.  I could hear Spanish on the other side of the door and couldn't even think what someone would want so late at night.  We heard them move on to our neighbor's door.  He answered and they spoke for almost 10 minutes.  My Spanish is "no bueno" so I had no idea what was going on.  Then they came back.  Knock knock knock.
Bobby ran to the door, now thinking something was very wrong.  He opened it and immediately an older lady yelled in a heavy accent, "What is your name!?"  I sat on the couch, wondering what was going on.

"Robert", he answered.

"I found your wallet!"  She had found his wallet at the dry cleaners.  When she opened it up to look for contact information, her friend recognized our address because she lived in our complex.  She and her friend made Bobby check his wallet to make sure nothing was missing.  He tried to offer them some money but they adamantly refused and were so happy that they were able to return it to him.  My heart almost burst as Bobby said good bye and thanked them profusely.  What an incredible act of kindness in a world where we can no longer rely on people being honest.

Its been one of the hardest adjustments living here.

As Bobby came and sat down on the couch next to me, we both smiled knowing our faith in humanity had been restored and we were also reminded of just how powerful a simple act of kindness can be. After a day of saddness, I knew that this was exactly what my heart needed. Something to remind me that even with all of the bad in our world, there is still good.