What Kind of Volunteer are You When No One is Looking?

Memorial Day weekend was an amazing three day holiday in our household.  My husband, who has one of the longest commutes in Los Angeles, was home for three whole days!  We knew it would be a fun filled 72 hours for the two of us.  We strive to enjoy our holidays while still giving a reverent nod to the significance of the day.  

Our Friday night was spent catching up on some of our movie viewing.  Afterwards, we indulged our sweet tooth with a late-ish trip to Cherry On Top.  As I turned the car into the parking space, I noticed a weird square blob on the ground.  I asked my husband to pop out of the car and pick it up.  As I had suspected, a wallet was on laying there in the middle of a parking lot in the middle of Monrovia.

We looked inside. The ID and credit cards were intact.  There was no cash.  We checked the ID picture and address then got our frozen yogurt.  Keeping an eye out in the strip mall, we kept looking for our found wallet's owner.  Our search was unsuccesful.  My husband was inspired to drop the wallet off to the address on the ID. 

Our car took us to a residence in Monrovia and we knocked on the door of a non descript house in our lovely town.  We had arrived at the end of the evening just when it would be borderline too late to have someone drop by.  The door opened as my husband announced that he had found the owner's wallet.  Three people stood in the doorway-stunned.  We smiled and returned the wallet.  The owner couldn't really speak.  He just had a look on his face like, "did someone really just do this?". 

We drove home and ate our frozen yogurt contented with our efforts for the evening.  It was a reminder that we all have the opportunity to help each other.  The Memorial Weekend was "topped off" with a "cherry" of goodwill!  This is the spirit of volunteering to me...giving of yourself in the smallest way to make a huge impact in someone else's life.