Dadmaster: The bag

No one's going off and telling anyone I'm the epitome of alertness and vigilance. Sometimes I do something like leave a diaper bag at the library.
So, it got stolen.

That night, I had my friend Ashley over. We retraced every step I took, I struggled over what to tell Jessi. I wasn't exactly sure it had been stolen yet. It was just possible that this Good Samaritan was just taking their sweet time returning it.

Throughout the night, and into the morning, I looked at the doorstep, and checked my phone. In the diaper bag was some odds and ends, some Brush-On sunscreen, my wallet, my keys, and a few diapers, including a dirty one. I told people I hoped that the thief had dug their hand straight into baby poop, although I didn't. I just wanted them to return it. I was too full of an emotional cocktail of stress and guilt to be angry.

I reported it missing to the police, and the very next morning, we got the locks changed for our house and for the car. It was all surreal. I'd stopped the cards, after they'd made two purchases at the King Soopers I go to, but before a big $300 one at Walmart.

It was all okay. It cost us money, but we were safe. No one was getting into our house.

And then Monday morning, I get a call from a church nearby, wondering if I'd lost my bag. I was back into that surreal feeling again. I herded the kids into the car, and picked up the bag. My credit card and debit card were gone, as well as seven dollars cash. But those were easily replaced. The only other thing they took was the sunscreen. (And I can't blame them, it's GREAT sunscreen.)

So, someone had taken it from the library, took the money stuff from the wallet (they missed the $100 Sprouts gift card, thank goodness), and tossed the bag in the parking lot of a church. And you know what, there's something to that. I'm not nominating the thief for a Nobel Prize anytime soon, but they put the bag into the possession of an organization that, standing for literally the Almighty of good and glory, would return it to me. There's something to that. It was wrong, but not malicious. They could have dumped the bag in a ditch, or in a public trash can. But they didn't. And I'm really grateful. I'm honestly more grateful than I am angry. And I hope they someday find themselves in a place financially where they don't have to steal. And I hope they repent. And I hope they put the sunscreen to good use.

So, there you go. The story is written down now! Here's pictures from the day!