Heron There & Everywhere

Did you ever have one of those heart-in-your-throat, life-flashes-before-your-eyes kind-of moments?  Well, I did to a small degree today.  I decided to go for a walk at lunchtime, and on the route I had planned, I pass a small sub sandwich shop.  Since I had no packed lunch with me today, I thought a turkey sandwich sounded yummy.

I put my cell phone and my credit/debit card in my pants pocket and started out. On the way out of my building’s elevator, my cell phone vibrated.  There was a text message from Hubby so I took the phone out to type a quick reply. I was busy concentrating on my phone as I pushed open the lobby door to step outside.  I heard a man behind me say, “Ma’am?  Ma’am!”  I turned around to see a young (30-ish) man behind me, bending down and picking up my credit card from the floor.

That could have been a nightmare.  If he had not been there, my card would have been left lying there until someone else came along. I wouldn’t even have known I did not have it until I went to pay for my sandwich (a 15 minute walk away from work).  Then I would have panicked, not knowing where it was.  If the man had been less honest and had pocketed my card, I would then have had to deal with theft and fraud and charges that were not mine, not to mention the bounced checks or charges I (or Hubby) might have incurred.  I would have had to report my card as lost or stolen, and then I would have had to wait several days for a new one (always a pain), and then you wait several days more for a new PIN number so you can actually use the card at an ATM machine. I would have had feelings of anger, anxiety, embarrassment and annoyance in spades.

Thank God for honest people.  I thanked the man profusely and told him that that could have been a disaster.  He agreed that it would have been a very bad day indeed.  I then went on my way for a nice walk and bought myself that smoked turkey breast sandwich.

Too bad when I returned to the office to eat the sandwich, I ended up dripping mayonnaise down the front of my blouse!  Then I used one of those Tide-to-Go pens on the blouse and ended up with whitish discolorations on my burgundy blouse.  Do you think someone was trying to tell me that maybe today was not a good day to get a turkey sandwich?