An Act of Kindness

What would an 11-year-old girl from Wheeling, W.Va., and a lady from Irwin, Pa., that never met have in common? 

With all the negative press reports, a person tends to wonder what good can be found. Well, I want to let you know about an act of kindness my family recently experienced just as I was beginning to think a truly kind person was now non-existent.

In July, my family went to Ocean City, Md. I was sitting on my balcony near the end of our stay and my phone rang. At any other time, I would not have answered an unknown caller from a different area code because it’s a cell phone and, if you aren’t in my contact list or my area code, it’s probably a telemarketer. I don’t know why, but I answered the call on that day.

On the other end of the telephone, a gentle voice asked for me. She said she got my number from a watch she found. I could not think of the watch, but just assumed it would be my Fitbit, something I wear daily and realized in that moment I’d lost it. Perhaps I took it off to go to the beach and not realized I did so.

The woman went on to say she found the watch and was driving home to Irwin, Pa. As she sat in the passenger seat of the long ride home, she began investigating this watch and who it could belong to. I was told it was found in the elevator of our condominium complex, the same location this family from Irwin had stayed. After some pleasant conversation, we exchanged addresses and this nice lady assured me that once she arrived home, she would mail the watch to me.

When I hung up the phone, I was so touched she would take time out of her life to go as far as to track me down. Given the current COVID crisis, most people probably would have not picked it up in the first place, or just tossed it aside. I was very grateful for the effort she put forth knowing it would have been missed by someone.

That evening I entered my car to head to dinner. On the floor of the driver side of my car, was my Fitbit. How could this be? This had become a bigger mystery! Then my mind really started churning. What in the world could have been lost that would electronically contain my information?

After a few moments, it clicked. I turned around and looked at my 11-year-old. I asked, “Did you bring your Apple watch on vacation?” Hesitantly, she said yes. I asked where it was. Tears formed in her eyes and she said, “I don’t know.” I then went through the brief lecture on why I limited what electronics she could bring and reiterated the importance of responsibility -- and then shared the news.

We were lucky. Her watch had landed in the care of a kind woman who wanted to return the watch. More fortunately, our personal information was in the hands of someone who was kind and would handle it with care and do the right thing. Someone who was good.

About a week after our return home, a tracked Fed Ex package arrived with a securely packed Apple watch that my little girl had lost and missed.

Kudos to you, Donna, from Irwin, Pa. You are a thoughtful person and kind soul. Mostly, you restored in me the feeling acts of kindness still exist, in many ways. Thank you.