Gratitude

Yesterday, somewhere in between getting on the bus to school and coming back from school, my wallet was stolen out of my school bag. It had my credit card, debit card, $100 of Chilean Pesos, my metro student pass, and my Chilean ID (I can't leave the country without that).  I didn't notice it was missing until last night when I was getting ready to go out with some friends, and afterwards, ending up needing to call several people in order to cancel cards, figure things out, etc.  With incredibly good luck, this morning as I was doing homework, I received a call from an unknown number on my phone. It was the office of the metro station, and a woman had found my wallet and called the metro station since she knew they would have my contact information. They gave me her number, I called her, and we agreed on a meeting place in front of a supermarket near where she lived.  I called my friend Nolan to come with me just in case (you never know, and this neighborhood is a little far from me and kind of sketchy).  We made it up there, she and her husband came and gave me my wallet, and it had everything in it except the cash, big relief! She was so kind, and her husband was a bus driver and had found my wallet stuffed between the seats of his bus as he was cleaning it for the night last night.  While it was a bummer to lose the cash, I still got everything else back which is probably more important anyway.  I wish there was something I could have given her... a finders reward, something, but unfortunately without my cash/wallet I couldn't.  She told me she wouldn't have taken it anyway, and was just glad to have been able to help.

Moral of the story, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who helped me last night and today! My Mom and Dad for skyping and calling banks for me, my program director Elena for giving me advice on what to do, several of my friends for being supportive and calling/texting to make sure I was ok, Nolan for coming on the bus with me, and Alecía, the woman who gave the wallet back!  Before my four months here in Chile, if I had been in the same situation that happened last night, I probably would have freaked out, been crying, and just really stressed about the situation.  But instead I stayed mostly calm, realized that while yes it was a pain to lose all of that stuff, it could all be replaced. And I hadn't been mugged or harmed at all, so yet again, one more thing to be thankful for.  I really think my time here has helped me to realize that as much value as we give to certain things, usually materialistic things, there is always something more important and more valuable to be grateful for.  Basically, as we come upon Thanksgiving next week, I'm really realizing how much everyone in my life means to me, and how thankful I am to have each and every one of you around!

"All we have is all we need. All we need is the awareness of how blessed we really are."
-Sarah Ban Breathnach