They call her "Brown". I call her Wonderful.

I am kind of a meathead when it comes to losing things. I lose things A LOT. And forget things. Everywhere. My mom has always said to me "you'd lose your head if it weren't attached". (She'd also always say 'You'd get dirty in a white room' And I would).

The past few months I've been beyond lucky. I can't even explain it. Twice I've lost my cell phone and both times it was returned to me. But what happened to me this weekend goes beyond luck and is a fresh reminder of how good people can be. It's enlightening.

I was playing hockey in a tournament in a town two hours away. My friend Kellie and I were driving there on Friday night. We stopped on our way there to grab a sandwich from Tim Horton's. We paid for our food and we were back on the road. We later arrived at our hotel to drop off our bags and go to the rink. Upon entering the rink I discovered I had no wallet. I figured I must have left it at the hotel - even though I had no recollection, or even reason to have touched my wallet while there I figured I was just me being me. After our game Kellie and I went out to look in the car. We didn't find it. We went back to the hotel and I calmly assumed it would be there. We didn't find it there either. I started to panic slightly. Kellie panicked more than I did. We decided to go back to the rink to search through the parking lot. By then the parking lot was jam packed, very dark and it was snowing pretty hard. We went into the arena to see if anyone had turned it in. We spoke to a woman collecting money at the door. We explained the situation and told her I must have dropped it in the parking lot. She gave us flashlights and we went walking through the parking again. No luck. Kelly thought I may have accidentally thrown it away while discarding our Tim Horton's garbage. We went through the garbage cans too. No luck.

So we went back to the hotel and I called to cancel my credit cards. Then I bid a silent farewell to the $160.00 cash I had in it. Besides the fact that I would have to order all new identification and bank cards, I was also quite annoyed that I would have to rely on other people to pay for me for the remainder of the weekend. Everyone was sympathetic and helpful and offered me money without hesitation, but I still felt like an idiot.

The next day we went back to the rink for our second game. There was sign posted on the front door "for the girl who lost her wallet". I was elated. I found the tournament convener and he had it with him. I asked who found it because I wanted to thank them. He told me it was a woman who worked in the kitchen. I asked her name and he told me "they call her Brown". When I found her I realized it was the same woman who was working the door the previous night. She said she knew my wallet must have been in the parking lot buried in the snow. She left her house early to ensure she arrived before any other cars. She then went through the whole parking lot and snow banks until she found it. I was so touched that this perfect stranger went out of her way for me. I didn't know how to show her my gratitude. I offered her money in return and she politely declined. She didn't seem to think it was a big deal.

I did.

Later that day I was touched again after talking to one of the guys I had met who played for one of the mens teams. He knew we had stopped at the Tim Horton's on the highway the previous day. That day, he was driving past the same place so he decided to stop and look there for me as well.

Two people I've never met. How amazing is that???

I was so convinced that someone had found it, stolen the cash and got rid of it. Well bite my tongue for jumping to conclusions. Because there are some good people out there. Even when you least expect it.

My team didn't win the tournament. We didn't even win a game. But we had a great weekend together. And I won in other ways.