A Purse Full of Mud...FOUND!

The police officer at the city dispatch office asked to see my i.d. I gave it to him and said, laughing, "My other one is in there," pointing to the stapled-shut, brown grocery bag he was holding.

A raised eyebrow and quizzical look as he carefully un-stapled and opened the brown bag confirmed the officer thought I was crazy. He pulled out a mud-caked, crusty, old-looking purse...MY PURSE THAT WAS STOLEN A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO!

For my blog followers, you can click on the link below to see the blog I posted last year after my purse was stolen:
http://thedavisdish.blogspot.com/2008/04/purse-snatching.html

Straining to see over the tall officer's shoulder, the dispatcher wanted to see what the fuss was over, too. "Dang, girl! What's that?" she asked.

Still smiling like a very emotionally-disturbed person, I said proudly, "It's my purse! I reported it stolen over a year ago and asked the detective to call me if anyone ever found it. They found it in a culvert."

The secretary just shook her head and laughed. Her chuckle was visibly a half-hearted, "Is-this-woman-serious-or-just-crazy?" response that made it clear she was bummed the sack didn't hold something exciting or mysterious, like a mud-caked wedding ring or wallet stuffed with money. She was also probably wondering why I wanted a mud-covered purse back.

Not to allow her to steal my joy, and still too amused myself to focus on the fact she did not share my enthusiasm, I happily took my prized paper grocery sack and answered a million questions from the kids about what was in the sack as we loaded back into the van.

"Why are we at the police station?" Dawson asked. "Mom, wasn't your purse red?" Madalynn queried. "Mom, did someone use your purse?" Justis asked. Jillian just kept trying to get her hands on the sack. I explained the reason we had to see the police is that they had something that had been stolen from me, no the people didn't use my purse, and that the now-brownish black purse was, in fact, red at one time. I also told Jillian, NO, she could not dig around in the mud-filled purse.

The anticipation of the "opening of the purse" was almost too much for us all to bear on the ride home. "Can't we open it now?" Justis kept asking?

The kids all piled out of the van and hurried behind me as I carried the brown sack to the picnic table. They waited, standing and staring at the brown sack, while I got the camera. Impatiently, they waited until I got a couple of "just how I got it back" pictures. Then, I pulled the wallet out of the top and started finding all of my cards. Yes, I can again check out a library book from the Steven's County Library in Hugoton if I ever need to! I pulled my wallet out.

MY GLASSES! Like the absent-minded person I usually am, I have thought (for a year) that they were lost somewhere in the house and I just hadn't run across them again.

Rain started to come down on the dirt-covered pile of found treasures spread out on the picnic table. I thought, "What can a little more water hurt?" and left the mess there so the rain could halfway wash the dirt off. I hurried and dumped the remainder of the purse (little mud clods, pens and a quarter) on the grass and came back under the awning where the kids were standing to stay dry. "Justis, please turn on the hose," I asked as I picked up the garden hose conveniently lying at my feet. I plopped the purse out on the concrete and just gave it a good spray-down, filling it several times with water to get all the mud out.

The purse and wallet, once red and now black, are not worth keeping, but I salvaged my glasses, and all of my "cards" (save the cancelled credit cards) are still good!My cell phone and the less-than-$20 cash I had in my purse the night it was stolen were the only things not found. I'm not surprised.

I don't know if they ever tried, but the thieves weren't able to charge anything to my credit cards, write checks or use my ID for anything since I had immediately called and cancelled everything at the crack of dawn when Travis found the van broken into. For that I am very thankful and extremely blessed. I now make certain the car is locked and the purse is out of the car before I go to bed!