The case of the missing wallet

Carmella came to Home Depot with me today to buy a bag of lava rocks for the garden. She sits up in the cart now and absolutely loves her freedom to do so. It’s a much better vantage point for watching people, looking at the inventory and of course all of the plant life in the nursery. What a field trip for her! She had such a fantastic time laughing and smiling at the flowers, people and cashier.

After we checked out we walked to the car and I buckled Ella in. I put the rocks in the trunk, then opened my door and sat down in the driver’s seat. That’s when I noticed that I didn’t have my wallet. What could have happened to it in the three minutes it took to pay and walk to the car? I searched everywhere I could think. I looked inside the car, around Ella’s car seat, under the car in case it fell while I was placing my baby in her seat. It was nowhere to be found. So I unbuckled Ella and retraced my steps back into the garden center.

I asked the cashier if anyone happened to bring back a wallet in the past five minutes. “No. So sorry,” she said. So I went into the main store to see if anyone brought it to customer service. Again, the answer was no. A very nice sales clerk followed me back out to my car to help me look. By this time several people were in on the action. A woman holding hands with her two young children came to the car and started thinking up all the ways a mom loses stuff.

“Did you place it in the top folds of the stroller canopy?”

“No. I didn’t bring the stroller in with me.”

“Did you put it down in the diaper bag while you placed your baby in the car?”

“No. It’s not there either.”

“Is it inside the Home Depot bag?”

“No. It’s not there either.”

She started to walk away when I heard her excitedly shout: “Oh, I see it! It’s on the top of your car!”

Boy did I feel the fool. I looked in the car, around the car, under the car, but not on top of the car. What a relief! I often place my water bottle or coffee cup on top of the car while I am getting stuff loaded inside…but I didn’t even remember placing my wallet up there. Phew!

Needless to say, I waved a big thank you to the mom and gave the woman who came out to help a huge hug. Carmella must have been over excited as well because she fell fast asleep on the way home.