Markley's Blog

I did a stupid thing.  You know how you hate to hear that from someone else?   Well this was something I had to admit and totally agree with.  Our usual schedule for Saturday mornings is to enjoy a breakfast out, and then do some running around and finish up errands.  It would most times make us spend a little more cash then what our budget would allow.  One of the traditional stops would be the bank.  We deposit money for the upcoming monthly expenses and pulling out what we budget for groceries and spend on entertainment.

This past Saturday was no different, (except).  We left the house on this vey brisk morning and made a stop at a friend’s house to drop something off.  Then we made our way to get our morning pick me up.  For my wife it would be coffee.  For me, a large Diet Coke.  I won’t get into the conversation we have about my choice.  That could be a whole other blog.  After that conversation we, as always, had a good laugh or two as we sat across from each other at breakfast.  I love the time that my wife and I have when it’s just us.  We can debate heavily, disagree heavily on said debate and then practically die laughing at something the other one said or did.

Well there was no laughing after the stupid thing I did later that morning.  See again I admit it was stupid.  Bonus points for me and some empathy once you find out how stupid I was.  It begins as we proceeded to our next location.  Out of the three banks we needed to stop at that morning, our first one was the next stop.  Then we stopped at a local hardware store to pick up some needed items for a future project coming up at my house.   Kristine, being the funny person that she is, took the opportunity to have a little slap stick with one of the props she found in the store.  She was laughing and told me to take a picture with my phone.

As I pulled my phone out of the pocket I also pulled out my pay check. That would be the reason for the second bank stop.   I said to myself, “Wow, better make sure I don’t drop that.”  I shoved it back in my pocket.  I then took the picture, which Kristine ended up hating.  We had no agenda so she asked me if I wanted to look at anything else.  We strolled for a while and looked at paint and ceiling fans.  That is for another completely different project that had nothing to do why we stopped there to begin with.  Now the fun starts.

We headed to the second bank I mentioned earlier.  There I was going to deposit and withdraw the needed funds for the week.  The automation today is so cool. I no longer have to go in or deal with a teller.  Not that I don’t like people, but because I was stupid I was glad it was just Kristine and the ATM that would learn how stupid I was.  (Again bonus points because you going to learn here real quick what happened).

As I pulled up to the ATM I reached into my pocket for the check and… wait … wait… You got it! No check!  I frantically pulled away from the ATM. I drove to the nearest parking spot and jumped out of the car and did a very quick inventory of all my pockets.  I did that inventory at least 3 times.  I jumped back in the car and expressed to Kristine that I can’t find it.  Another quick inventory.   “We need to back track and see if we can find it.” she boldly encouraged.  Then I had to drop the stupidity bomb.  “It’s signed” I blurted out.

Before we left the house to save time and not tie up the ATM line I put my signature on the back of the check.  I know!  How stupid is that?  First stop was the bank we had stopped before the hardware store.  I remember I pulled out my phone to check the forecast for the next couple of days.   Why?  I don’t know!  I was hoping it fell and was on the floor right up against the counter and no one would even notice it.  Nope!  I asked out of desperation if anyone had found a check.  “No sir”, was the response I did not want to hear, but was what I was greeted with.  Who I am I kidding I said to myself?   Anybody that finds a check that is already sign more than likely is not going to turn it in.  That is such a poor retrospect of our world, but in most cases unfortunately, also a fact.  Back to the car and another quick inventory.  Isn’t it funny how we will check and check and hope that one of those times we will find what we had been frantically been looking for?  No luck.  Next stop the hardware store.  This whole time Kristine was in pure silence and I was also.  As we drove I did my best to not break the law or yell at the other drivers that were driving way to slow.  Don’t they know I may have lost my check?  The check that I had already signed?  Of course they didn’t.  No one would be that stupid!

I parked in the same spot.  Maybe it was lying on the ground. Nope!  Stupid!  I searched the lot as we walked into the store.  This whole time Kristine or I are not saying a word to each other.  We walked the same path as we did the first time, my eyes scanning.  We got to the place that I had pulled out my phone to take the picture that Kristine ended up not liking.  No check!  Stupid!  I headed back to the register that I checked out and was hoping it was laying there or at least the cashier had found it and turned it in to the store manager.

As we passed a couple of aisles, all of sudden Kristine stopped dead in her tracks.  I stopped because she did and I looked to see the reason for her stopping.  She was looking down at the floor and then up at me.  I looked to the spot she was staring at and there in the middle of the aisle was my check.  I walked over and scooped it up.  I could not believe that it was lying there right in the open and no one had picked it up.  You could clearly tell that it was a check.  I began saying a prayer of thanks.  Kristine was in tears.  God had miraculously kept the check untouched for a good 20 minutes.

20 minutes!  That’s how long Kristine and I figured it had taken from the time we left the store to the time I realized that I had lost my check, to the time it took us to get back to the hardware store.   20 minutes, that’s how long God kept my check on the ground.  Obviously blinded to everyone else.  But sitting there in the wide-open aisle for Kristine and I to find.  As we walked back to the car Kristine was still wiping her eyes and she said ‘Do you really want me to tell you what I was thinking? “I looked at her and smiled.   She grabbed my arm and we both just fell into to each other and thanked the Lord for performing a miracle despite my stupidity.  God is gracious.