It was a Friday. Being an itinerate gifted specialist I travel between three schools. On Fridays I spend half the day at one school and finish the day at my base school. Being a stick in the mud person I always go through the drive through at McDonalds and pick up my lunch–a crispy chicken snack wrap and a large diet Coke.

However, on this particular Friday I stopped by Dollar Tree to get Santa Hats for my Gifted students’ presentation at the assisted living facility. When I opened my wallet to pay, I found that my debit card was missing. Now that is always a heart stopper!! It also stopped my lunch plans, because at McDonalds it has to be cash or plastic–I had neither.

All the way back to my base school I wracked my brain trying to think where I could have left my card. I finally decided that the last time I had used it was at Wal Mart. I distinctly remembered putting it back in my purse. The only other possibility was that I had left my purse unattended, and some curious person had helped him or herself to it.

The first thing I did after reaching my classroom was to empty my purse and sift through the mountain of contents, searching for the lost card. Nothing! I looked through my wallet one more time. FOUND IT! …in the pocket on the front. How it got there I will never know. I have never before put it there. RELIEF!!

Now–What about lunch?? I had a drink in the fridge. I rummaged through my desk and found a quarter, a dime, 3 nickels, and 5 pennies–exactly enough to get a package of peanut butter crackers from the vending machine. PROBLEM–the vending machine doesn’t take pennies.

So, I walked to the office at the front of the building and asked for change, a nickel for 5 pennies. Then I headed out for the lounge. I put in my money–1 quarter, 1 dime, 4 nickels. I punched in the code for my choice–D5. The display started flashing red. “THIS ITEM IS $1.00.” Someone had put my peanut butter crackers in the wrong slot.

What now? The only thing I could do was punch the button for my money back. It must be my lucky day! I got back all 55 cents of my money!

I went back to my classroom, got my diet drink from the fridge, found 3 Starburst Fruit Chews in my purse, and settled back to enjoy my lunch. The wrapper said 240 calories in a package of Starbursts. I figured I got about 80 calories after all. The day wasn’t a total loss.