Gratitude and a bad day...

Okay- so yesterday J went off elk hunting with his boss and since I had the whole day to myself, decided I would go into the big city and look at a piano. So I drove into town (well, got as far as the post office then remembered I should take my Jo-Ann's coupon since I needed 7 yards of fabric to back a quilt and at 40% off, it would be a lot cheaper so I turned around and drove the 4 miles back home and headed out again).

I went to Office Max, Home Depot, Big Bear sports, michaels, costco, scheel's, jo-ann's and then to the piano store. Alas, they were closed as they had gone to Vegas for the weekend. So I went to Albertson's got a few groceries that somehow added up to $177 for a few measly bags and absolutely no meat. Then I stopped at Wendy's to grab a hamburger, extra pickles, no fries no soda as I had a bottle of water. Glanced at my watch and saw I could be home by 1:00.

Started driving home and realized that my cell phone was not with me. I had just stuck my debit card in my pocket all day and had just been carrying my phone in my hand.

So what to do. I went back to Albertson's - "No, no one had turned it in." Back to Jo-Ann's - same answer. Back to Scheels, Costco, and Michaels - no one had turned it in. I knew I had it when I came out of Big Bear so thought it was totally gone.

Now, it was 1:30 - I decided I would drive home and call Alltel to report it missing. An hour and a half of my life wasted and I was really down in the dumps. I had had a bit of a nagging feeling that I should call my cell phone to see if anyone answered but figured clerks in the stores would be too busy and I had set the ringer to meeting anyway so it just rings really low and vibrates. Since I had driven to town through Red Lodge, I decided to go ahead and stay on the interstate and go home the other way.a Get's boring driving back and forth.

I got to Columbus about 2:15 and as I went by my Alltel store, I saw they were open. I went in and asked the girl if she could call my cell phone while I went out to my truck thinking maybe it's in here in these packages somewhere and I just haven't found it. Nope - I couldn't hear it ringing.

I went back into the store and told her I needed a replacement phone and showed her which one. She told me I would have to pay full price for it which was way too much but I wanted the same phone. I told her I don't use it very often and she said that if I found my other phone and the new one had less than 20 minutes, she would buy it back from me for full price. Okay - so she wrote down my old ESN and got the new phone up and running and set up my voice messaging.

She handed me the phone and went off to ring up the bill. Immeditely it popped up saying I had a message. It was from my mom - "call me - some guy said he has your phone". So, I called her and she gave me the phone number and I called back. A guy named Kevin had found my phone in the parking lot outside Jo-Ann's and had been calling a few people to see if he could find the owner. I called and his wife answered. She said they would meet me at the Holiday Station in Billings. I handed the phone back to the clerk who rang up a debit on my card and turned back on my old phone. Then I jumped in the truck and headed the 45 miles back to town.

When I got to the station, and saw all of the vehicles, I realized I should have asked what Kevin would be driving. But as I turned in, a young man in pretty old clothes, driving an old beater pickup, jumped out waving my phone. I asked him what I owed him and he said, "Nothing. It's what I would want someone to do if this happened to me." I thank him profusely and insisted he take the small amount of cash that I had in my pocket. It wasn't a lot but at least something for his trouble. I thanked him again and then headed back home, this time driving through Red Lodge and finally got home about 5.

I unloaded the vehicle and came down and sat for a few minutes thinking about how grateful I was to have my phone (Mainly I didn't want to lose the two little video clips of Jules I have on it) and how Heavenly Father continues to shower me with blessings even though I am not always doing what I should be doing. And I thought of the honesty of that young man and the efforts he put forth to return it.

Sometimes, I get a little put out because I've done something for someone and they don't even bother to say thanks. That is not my sole reason for doing things. I enjoy doing things for people - hearing thank you from them is a bonus to the good feeling I have for being able to do a particular thing. It shouldn't be my ulterior motive and I shouldn't stop doing things for people just because "The last time I did such and such for that person, they didn't even bother to say "THANK YOU". Then I think of all the things my Heavenly Father and my Savior have done for me and I am ashamed that I don't spend more time on my knees pouring out gratitude for those blessings. If they quit doing things for me because I failed to express gratitude, I am not sure where I would be today.