• by C. Oscar Olson •
I love my morning commute. The 3 mile bike ride from the South Shore to downtown Nantucket on a beautiful summer morning is truly a pleasure. The benefits are numerous: No traffic, easy parking, exercise, and it’s good for the planet (not to mention my car). My ride home the other night, however, was less than pleasurable.
Once home, I stepped inside and emptied my pockets as I always do; phone, keys, and wallet generally jingle and thump as I drop them atop my desk. Something was missing, though. After much pacing and mad pocket searching, I realized my wallet didn’t complete the journey home. I pedaled the 6-mile round trip back to town twice that night, eyes locked on the bike paths and road shoulders hoping to see a sight for sore eyes. Assuming the worst, I sat down and cancelled bank cards, credit cards, ordered a duplicate driver’s license and wondered about what else I had lost.
The next morning, I called the Nantucket Police Department with hopes that someone had turned it in. I checked in with them again and again throughout the next two days, to no avail. At the end of the 2nd day, as I was closing up my store and hopes of finding it had just about evaporated, I decided to try calling one more time. What did I have to lose? Certainly not my wallet. The dispatcher, always pleasant and happy to help, put me on hold again. She returned to to the phone with good news: someone had turned in my wallet.
It would take another day and a few more phone calls to get it back into my hands, but relief was in sight. When I finally did have it back, I peeked inside to find not even $1 was missing. Faith in humanity: restored.
Summer on Nantucket isn’t all sunshine and beach days. There are stresses and hardships that we all face from time to time, so remember to take a breath, help your neighbor, and recognize how lucky we are to be in this paradise. And to whoever returned my wallet intact: THANK YOU!