Monday, January 09, 2006

The Pessimist’s Surprise

I prefer to think of myself as a ‘realist,’ but I must admit that I am sometimes pessimistic about things. On Thursday, our son’s new Nike skates were stolen from our van – in broad daylight from behind our house, as far as we can figure.

We put up signs in an effort to stir up some information, but I didn’t hold out much hope. A friend from the church saw one of the signs and phoned us to let us know that she’d seen some large Nike skates at a local used stuff store. The store was closed on Saturday, but I went back today (3 times, until it finally opened). I searched the store in vain, but then asked the proprietor if he had seen them. He said, “They’re sold.” My heart sank, but when I told them they were my son’s skates and that they were stolen, he said that the buyer hadn’t picked them up and that I could take them. Wow. I guess he didn’t want any hassles about fencing stolen goods, so I took the skates and went home. Amazing.

I was just playing along with the poster, uh, posting, I really didn’t believe that it would produce any results. Just goes to show that it pays to “give ‘er the ol’ college try” sometimes. Perhaps I should re-evaluate my pessimistic thinking. We are thankful. I prayed that I’d be wise and self-controlled at the used stuff store, and I prayed to thank God for the rescued skates on the way home.

2 comments:

Terry said...

You know, Patti, Josh is bound to lose his skates sometime soon . . .

When Josh read my blog title, he said, "Pessimists are rarely surprised."

It sounds like I'm raising one!

Terry

Ian Hugh Clary said...

Now that's a story with closure! Maybe we could give the propietor the benefit of the doubt and think that he had the moral scruples to want to see justice served.
But you're probably right, he likely didn't want a hassle.