Why do I keep finding money?

I keep finding 20 dollar bills on the street.

The above is a writing prompt I found. The funny thing? It’s true.

When I found the first wad of money, I asked my husband if the cash was his. He said no. I wracked my brain trying to remember if I could have dropped the money.

Like most people, I barely use cash. The process of removing the money from my wallet, receiving the change, and putting the change away seems to cause a cloud of impatience to rise in the line of people behind me. I imagine each person thirst-starved for their Pumpkin Spice Margarita, waiting for me to put away my now-crumpled bills….

I don't want to be responsible for anyone's Pumpkin Spice Dehydration. So, I swipe a bank card. It’s faster.

When we asked our neighbor if he’d dropped money, he smiled and said we were honest. But nope. Not his money.

When I found money a second time, a crime show from HBO came to mind. In The Wire, a detective instructs another detective to have “soft eyes.” One meaning of this term is to see the whole picture when investigating a crime scene.

While I'm not investigating crime scenes, I figure taking in the “whole scene” helps me find dropped money.

Or else I’m just magic. After all, I do have a Harry Potter wand from Universal Studios in my house.

The next time I spotted money on the street (just a single $20 this time--alas!), I was walking with my husband. He couldn’t believe I’d found more cash. “I’m keeping my eyes on the ground next time,” he said.

Anyway, finding the money reminded me how we will find new solutions when we choose forward movement. If I hadn’t taken the walk and kept my eyes open, I'd have found nothing.

If we don’t move forward and see new things, we’ll stay where we are.

Have a fantabulous week!

Deb Ager

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