My hope that the last day of summer session would be shorter and uneventful is completely ruined by an unexpected incident. After the last meeting of Freshman Composition yesterday I stopped by the coffee shop to get some caffeine and planned to work on the grades. I put my messenger bag down and set up my office at the usual table–the one against the back wall along the window to the sidewalk. Barista called out my au lait and I walked over to the counter to retrieve it. In just a matter of seconds, no more than half a minute, as if no sooner have I walked away from the table did someone, a predator on valuable belongings, has taken my Timbuk bag and run. Flummoxed and shocked, I tried to make sense of what happened. Obviously a theft has been committed by someone who has been prowling around for an opportunity of an unattended belonging. Diminution of my dismay was preserved by the forlorn thought that the bag would not be retrieved. Along with it went my prized Moleskine journal, in which all my thoughts and reflections on books were written, since fall 2006. I was resolved not to be consoled, at least for a while, until I saw my friend whom I was to meet but had no way to reaching since my cellphone was in the stolen bag. By a stroke of luck I had turned in my laptop at the repair service to update the memory. Other than a copy of Sense and Sensibility, which has been waiting in my bag to be read after Anna Karenina, my Moleskine journal, a few writing instruments, post-its, and hand-lotion, the bag has no valuables. Without my cellphone and laptop, I felt completely out of the radar. But the story only gets better, when I got home I had a message on the machine from the coffee shop saying someone has turned in a bag that matched my description. How lucky can I be?
*I have to defer my full review of Anna Karenina to the weekend as I have yet to pick up the journal.
*Update on Lost Bag (Aug 15 2:45pm) I picked up my bag, which turned up at the coffee shop shortly after I took off yesterday. Everything is exactly where it was. The girl at Peet’s said someone returned it and said he had taken it by mistake. Whatever the real reason might be, I’m just happy–happy to get my Moleskine journal full of writings back. Don’t ever leave your belongings unattended even for 2 seconds!
Filed under: Babble, Madness, Personal | Tagged: Babble, Madness, Mishap, Personal, Stolen Bag |
A Guy's Moleskine Notebook 
I am so happy that your bag was returned!
One has to look on the bright side – your laptop wasn’t in your bag to be stolen. That’s good.
There is hope!
How lucky are you! I hate that you have to worry about leaving a bag alone for two seconds. I hope you get everything back.
Glad there is a happy ending to this one. Sometimes there is good luck, after all.
I’m thrilled this had a happy ending for you. I hope you were able to get all your things back. Have a better weekend. 🙂
So glad they found the bag. I know from personal experience how one’s stomach twists during such an event…………..especially when a moleskine is involved. I think losing that would be the worst of all to me.
Literate Housewife:
I felt like winning the lottery!
Dark Orpheus:
That was really a stroke of luck. I was going to put my camera in my bag to take some pictures of my class. I left my camera on the kitchen table because my puppy was acting up that I had to comfort him. I totally forgot about my camera and went off. 🙂
Ted:
There was a sidetrack story. I was at my wits end and walked into the bookstore. I was debating if I should replace my copy of Sense and Sensibility, but I decided to get something else to read in case I might retrieve the bag. 🙂
Jessica and Lisa:
Everything was untouched. It’s exactly where it was. I’m thrilled.
Greg S:
I count myself very lucky that the person actually is thoughtful enough to return the bag. Yesterday I was trying to imagine all the possible outcome to this situation and was resolved to the thought that had he found nothing of his material gain, he would have thrown the bag into a dumpster. That I even get it back unscathed is pure luck. 🙂
kelskels:
Stomach twist was a very perfect description. I tossed and turned.
I’m soooo glad you got it back! What a twisty story. 🙂
Now that’s what I call a very happy ending! I’m glad it was a simple mistake and not a petty crime. 🙂
Andi:
Phew! What a relief!!! 🙂
Angie:
I actually believe that it’s a mistake. The person tries to call but my cell phone was in my bag.
I’m so happy that you got everything back! More than likely, the person felt guilty over the personal things? I mean, what would they be doing with that stuff. My sinister mind thinks that your prowler was expecting the laptop to be in there. Glad it turned out alright!
Ah, that’s great then. It was just a mistake and the guy returned it.
But this reminds me of how my mother has the right idea: Put the ugliest ornament you can think of on your bag. That way, no one is going to mistake your bag for theirs.
[…] Twist of a Mishap […]
Steve:
Thanks. Absolutely nothing that he make use of anything of my stuff, unless he’s dying to read Jane Austen! 🙂
Dark Orpheus:
Yes. I put the noisiest (not ugliest) scrap of cloth on the handle of my luggage just so nobody would take my bag by mistake. It’s a rainbow-colored cloth with a rainbow-colored luggage belt.
Oh Matt, I’m so glad you got your bag back! I would have been freakin’ out. I left my journal at a bookstore one time and that sent me in a tizzy… My journal in the hands of a bunch of strangers?! 🙂 But, I knew I’d get it back unlike you. You were sure it was gone. Thank goodness it was all returned to you.
It’s scary to lose an important part of yourself.
Glad all is fine now.
Iliana:
It was *such* a relief when I heard the message from Peet’s on the machine. Phew!!! I felt like part of me was missing for sure. All the writings and notes in the journal…
Isabel:
It wasn’t a good feeling. It made me sick, nauseating, and stomach twisted.