Payback Time

"All right, Baby Girl, time to level up. It's payback time."

That's what I told my 14-year-old Sophia about a half hour ago. But let me start at the beginning.

We had pulled up to Kroger to grab a few things, and as I got out of the car, I clicked on the buttons to crack the windows. What I didn't realize was that I clicked too hard on the passenger-side-window button, and unbeknownst to both of us, the window kept rolling all the way down behind us as I locked the doors and we walked into the store.

Sophia had left her IPhone 7 on the passenger seat.
The one she had saved up for for a year.
The one with all of her K-pop concert videos she took.
The one not backed up to the cloud.
In plain view.
Reachable.

When we walked back out of Kroger 15 minutes later, I saw that the passenger window was down. My stomach sank. I didn't say anything. Hopefully nothing was in the car. She opened the passenger door.

"Where's my phone?"

Tears, anger, wailing, panic. And that was just the beginning. It was my fault, and I owned it. I stood outside the passenger side with her bawling in the passenger seat. It wasn't pretty.

Two kids, a girl and boy, probably in their late teens, walked by us and got into the car facing us in the parking spot in front of us. I was fairly certain the car had gotten there after us. They were acting strange, and I noticed the boy wouldn't look me in the eyes, and the girl wouldn't look my direction at all. They sat in the spot longer than was necessary, with the car off, and he would NOT catch my eye. I was looking at them through their windshield, not aggressively, but they definitely knew I was watching them with mom eyes. I didn't say anything to Sophia, but I considered walking up to their window and asking them if they had seen her phone. Or had seen anyone take it. Or had taken it themselves, the most likely scenario.

But I didn't.

Then, the strangest thing happened. The girl reached over and lovingly pinched the boy's cheek. He smiled shyly and caught my eye for a split second then looked away. It threw me off, because it didn't seem to fit the narrative I had running in my head. Then they pulled out of the parking space and drove away.

We drove home in silence, except for the sniffling. I remembered that there is a "find my phone" feature on IPhones (I only have cheap phones myself), and I asked Sophia if she had hers turned on. She didn't know. I came into the house, and after a quick google search, we entered her ID and the finder was pulling up a map. We were about to see exactly where her phone was, call the police, and have them go pick it up for us. I felt relieved, but angry, and like someone needed to pay for their crime. Such a disappointment.

The map popped up, green flashing dot, at 3rd and Rice.

My address.
My driveway.
My car.

We ran back outside, opened the glove box, and there it was, Sophia's IPhone 7. She had not put it in there. I immediately knew who had.

I wonder if he knew how close I was to walking up to his window and accusing him of stealing her phone. I hope not. He did a really good thing -- he didn't do it to be recognized, or to be rewarded, but because it was a kind thing to do for a stranger. He knew someone would steal it if he didn't put it away. He knew we would eventually find it.

What goes around comes around, as they say. She/we were graced with some really good energy today, and you can bet your bottom dollar we will both be recycling that energy back into the universe for a long time.

Thank you to the young man in the Kroger parking lot for looking out for us. Gratitude and love go a long way, and I am sure you will, too. I am humbled to be able to see that in action today. Open hearts are a beautiful thing to witness.

"All right, Baby Girl, time to level up. It's payback time."