This One's for You, Russ...

My father-in-law loves small world stories. I think he'd approve of this one.

When my mother and sister were here we stayed at a lodge near Ngorongoro Crater. We met a woman there. I'll call her Cathy (because that's really her name). We started chatting and realized we both knew the same person back in Minneapolis. I'll call her Lisa (because that's really her name). I've already had several "encounters" because Lisa works at a travel clinic and apparently everyone who gets vaccinated and comes here was "shot" by her and then somehow ends up at touring the school site.

Yesterday , unfortunately, my purse and camera were stolen. BIG bummer. I was devastated, and overwhelmed about how I was going to go about getting some credit cards cancelled and reissued, and my driver's license and ATM card. A small bit of luck was that my phone fell out when the purse was grabbed which is good because we all keep every contact in our phones and it's a huge huge pain to lose it.

Later that night I get a call from a woman named Cathy who said she got a call from someone talking about my wallet and the post office. Somehow she figured out it was me and was able to rustle up my business card (hers was in my wallet from when we met in May) and called me. I got the number of the caller and called her and managed to figure out that some of my stuff was at the post office.

So this morning I went there. Apparently it's common for thieves to take money, etc. and return papers, passports, licenses, etc. by tossing it in a bundle in a post box. Does that somehow assauge their guilt? I don't get it. But there, in an envelope, were my keys, my driver's licenses, credit cards, ATM card, and every ratty scrap of paper that was stuffed in my wallet! Of course, not my money, or camera, or glasses, or the lipstick that never smeared. But you can't have everything and I'm very thankful to get back what I did. It saves a lot of headaches and hassles.

But if you're the type that likes a "small world" story, I think this one is tops. And never doubt that YOU might be the cog in the mysterious workings of the universe. Right, Lisa?