Gone with the Wind

On General Conference Saturday, Bill and I drove out to Cedar Rapids to pick up an upright washer and dryer that we found on Craigslist. (We are finally in our duplex! Hoorah!) On our way back, we stopped at Menard's (the equivalent of Home Depot or Lowe's) to pick up the last few items needed to be able to install said washer and dryer.

We had already been to Menard's once that day, and after a semi-eventful trip of picking up our washer and dryer, I found myself in a bad mood and just wanting to stay in the car while Bill picked up what he needed. Plus, it might disuade anyone from tampering or running off with our new purchase, which was just sitting on the back of a nice trailer that we had borrowed from a family in our ward. 

The day was horribly windy...a wind advisory was in effect with winds blowing from 30-45 mph throughout the afternoon. I couldn't get any mobile data to stream Conference on my phone and finally I just drifted off for a nap. I woke up a bit later and Bill was still in Mendard's.

Trying to pull myself back into conciousness, I noticed an old man was trying to open his van door and load some stuff into the back, but with the wind blowing so awfully, the van doors kept shutting and his cart kept blowing away from him. Suddenly the cart was hurtling towards our car and I knew he needed help in this losing battle. I opened the Trailblazer door and yelled out across the wind, "Here, let me help you!" and of course, my purse falls out...and ALL its contents.

I dropped to my knees and gathered all my things and felt I managed to get them all fairly quickly, when I look over at the van and the old man isn't there any more. "I think you're going to lose a lot more than I am!" I suddenly hear someone yell from in front of our car. It is then that I realize that the cash from our $1000 "Emergency Fund" envelope that I had brought with us to purchase our washer and dryer was blowing away with the wind. Hundreds of dollars. $100, $50, and $20 increments blowing all over the parking lot. I didn't fully register what was going on - groggy from just waking up from my nap, flustered that my purse had just dumped, and mortified that this was happening.

The old man and I left everything where it was, our vehicle doors wide open, my purse sitting on the passenger seat, his cart of stuff butt up against our trailer...we were chasing after paper bills in the windiest day I had experienced in Iowa. 

I was jumping and stepping on bills and clenching them tightly in my fist. I only assume the old man was doing the same. We were now a couple of rows over from where our vehicles were parked and I noticed two other guys running toward us. They saw my money go flying into the street and had been quick to react - saving the bills I wouldn't have ever noticed or been fortunate to have found. We congregated around their truck and the three men handed me all the cash they had collected. "Make sure you hang on to that money and put it away somewhere safe!" one of the men told me. I was flustered...this all had happened so fast. It WAS in an envelope that WAS in my purse. It wasn't like I had planned to throw my money to the wind! I was more embarrassed than anything and quickly thanked the men...but not to the degree they deserved. 

I placed all the cash in the envelope and walked back to the car with the old man. I threw the envelope into my purse and shut the door to finish the job I had originally set out to do - to help the old man (that I had just made sprint across the parking lot). I held the van doors open and hung on to his cart while he rearranged everything. When we were done, I thanked him again for his help. And he thanked me for mine.

I got back in the Trailblazer to assess my losses.

How could this have happened? How could green slips of paper have so much worth and be lost so easily in an accident? I began to count and organize my money. Then I recounted and reorganized my money. If this was our $1000 Emergency Fund and we had just spent $325.00 on a washer and dryer, I should have $675.00 in cash. I counted, recounted, and counted again a total of $750.00. How did I earn money after potentially losing it all to the wind in the blink of an eye? How was this possible?!

To be honest, I don't know how much money we actually had starting out in the envelope that day - we could have had more than $1000 in the envelope, but I don't know why that would have been. All I know is that with the help of three kind men, I got all my money back and more. I didn't cry or feel spiritually overwhelmed by this miracle while this was all happening, but I absolutely knew that I needed to pray and thank my Heavenly Father right at that very moment - no delay! 

My prayer went something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..."

I think I tend to forget to thank Heavenly Father for all that he blesses me with when it comes to the end of a day. There are hundreds of tender mercies granted to us throughout our lives that I'm sure go unnoticed. But I know that a miracle was granted to me in that moment. I wanted Heavenly Father to know that I was grateful and I absolutely wanted those three men to know it, even though I did a poor job of expressing my gratitude to them. I prayed that Heavenly Father would help them to feel of my gratitude after the fact. 

You guys...Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real and they love us and are aware of us. I could never deny them, not when you have experiences like these that help you to know they are watching out for you.

Bill came back shortly after that traumatic experience. My anger had gone with the wind (you see what I did there?) and had been replaced with a million emotions in between from the time he left and when he returned. This moment also helped me to learn that gratitude helps take away the pain of insignificant issues or flare-ups. 

I learned a lot of important lessons in those five minutes. I hope I can remember them throughout the rest of my LIFE.