A Thief Among Us

One morning last week Brad, Memphis, Carson and I went bunk bed shopping for Brianna and Cody. I had an ulterior motive when I suggested that we start out at the children's consignment store. I figured, hey, I got him used to the idea of buying beds, maybe I can somehow disguise the really cute clothes I find as a bed. My excitement over the adorable outfits I had found quickly faded though when I got to the register.

I opened my wallet and thought, wow, this thing feels really light. I reached for my bank card and it wasn't there. In fact, there was nothing there. That pocket of my wallet holds 2 debit cards, 2 credit cards, my driver's license, and several other important cards. Gone. All of them.

I was fighting the urge to throw up all over the counter in front of me as I thought of where I was the last time I used them and how many places I had been since then. Fortunately it didn't take me very long to remember that I definitely had them the night before and that we had only made one other stop that morning: my mother's office where I had left my purse in the unlocked car in the parking lot.

So I called my mom in a panic wondering if she thought someone would open our car, find my purse, open my wallet, and remove only the cards (not the cash). Seemed far fetched to me, but there just wasn't any other explanation.

I began to dread the rest of the day because I knew it would be spent calling several different card companies, waiting endlessly on hold, and possibly having to deny charges made by someone other than myself. As if I didn't have anything better to do.

Then, in a moment of brilliance, I thought I had better ask Carson if perhaps she had seen the cards anywhere:

"Carson, did you play with Mommy's wallet this morning?"

Nod, nod.

"Did you take some cards out of Mommy's wallet this morning?"

Nodding while holding up one, then two, then three, then five fingers.

"Do you know where they are now?"

"Uh-huh. Follow me." And she galloped off as if to lead me to some super secret buried treasure.

There, in the cabinet under the tv was a nice little stack of very important cards. She reached in and grabbed them like she was handling something made of glass and presented them to me so proudly. I felt like I had just won the grand prize. I was really too relieved to be mad, but we did have a long talk about how we don't touch other people's stuff. She has no idea what kind of mayhem she almost caused. One day, when she grows up, I'm going to teach her children how to hide Mommy's credit cards. I can't wait!