When Karma's Anything but a Bitch

Never underestimate the kindness of absolute strangers in the big city.

Yesterday evening, I left my wallet on an L2 bus on my way home from Adam's Morgan -- my wallet containing two debit cards, two credit cards, my driver's license, my student ID, my SmartTrip card & the key to my office. I spent the next 20 hours or so figuring out the mess -- waiting for the final bus to arrive in the station for a report on whether the wallet was turned it, borrowing $40 from a kindly friend, waking up at the crack of dawn (as though I slept) to check with WMATA lost & found, filing a police report, canceling credit cards, checking with TSA to figure out how to fly home to Ohio sans ID...

And around 6:30 today, a coworker called to tell me that an employee of a nearby Days Inn had found my wallet & was holding it for me. I trekked down to Van Ness to pick it up from Jose, the maintenance man who now has the best karma ever, to retrieve my belongings. And amazingly, everything was returned to me in tact -- including the $80 in cash that I thought I'd lost.

I spent all of last night crying about my lost stuff & my own idiocy, & I spent a couple minutes crying today out of sheer amazement & good luck. I absolutely cannot believe that in a city of this size & this demeanor, I got everything back. I don't speak often of my faith or my feelings on God, but on days like today, I'm just bowled over by the way the world works & the blessings I'm given.

I'm going to buy Jose a gift card, I think, to thank him. I was too stunned at the time to think it through, but I really want to make clear to him how appreciative I am of his rare kindness. Does anyone have any suggestions?