Picture it:

Downtown Disney Marketplace, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, 2010. Christmas shopping with Claire Longest and Luerne Herrera.
After a few hours of going from one store to another I, for the first time ever in my life, lost my wallet. One minute my wristlet was on my wrist, the next I went to grab it and it wasn't there. Now, I'm one of those people who does the double check before I leave a restaurant, restroom, subway train, cab, car, home, work, etc. Keys? check. Phone? check. Wallet? check.
So, when I didn't have my wallet around my wrist like usual I went into search and destroy mode. I ran to the last store I was in. Claire ran to another store we'd been in. Luerne stayed in the area and searched the room around her and through my other bags of merchandise. First place I checked didn't have my wallet. They sent me to guest services. Guest services said if it was there it would be in the back and I'd have to wait till he could go back and look. Waited....no luck. Meanwhile my inner monologue was multitasking: ok, you didn't have cash in there. You can cancel the cards. You can get a new Disney ID before work tomorrow. It might very well be gone, it can be replaced. Lord, please let someone have turned it in! Ran back to the store I was in when I noticed it was missing and asked someone at a register. They sent me to the information desk. I ran to where it used to be and it was no longer the information desk. Asked where it was moved to, ran over there. I cut to the front of the line and before I could even ask, the woman at the front of the line asked if I'd lost my wallet. I said yes. The woman behind the counter asked me what it looked like. I told her. She pulled it out from below the desk. YEEEEESSSS!!!!! She said someone had just turned it in. I was without it for probably less than 15 minutes, but it felt like forever!
I asked who turned it in and she said it was a cast member named Jerry who found it near the center of the store. I thanked her (at least twice!) and went to find Jerry. I asked another cast member who was working in the area that Jerry was supposed to be in and she took me right to him. An older man with white-ish hair turned around. I said "You found my wallet and turned it in." He smiled. And I gave him the biggest bear hug you could imagine. He said he looked for an ID and when he saw I was from Brunswick, Ohio he had to make sure I got it back. He pointed to his name tag: Jerry, Cleveland, Ohio. HE'S FROM HOME!
So, of course, I started to cry because he's from my hometown and of all the people to find my wallet it was him and I gave him another huge hug. He asked if I went to BHS and when I graduated. I told him yes, I did go to BHS and I graduated in 2002. He said he used to be a wrestling coach for Columbia Station High School. My dad was a wrestling coach for Brunswick Middle School. By that point I was a mess because I had my wallet back, it was found by a sweet old gentleman from home, who was a retired wrestling coach just like my dad. He put his arm around me and said again how when he saw I was from Brunswick he knew right where that was and that he had to make sure I got it back. He gave me a squeeze and said quietly "Merry Christmas."

So, this blog is for you, Jerry from Cleveland. Tonight I'm thanking God for putting you right where you needed to be so you could find my wallet and I could find you. I know that for a Disney Cast Member, doing what you did is just part of the job. But, tonight I was a guest and you made my night have a magical ending. I hope there's a little extra something under the Christmas tree for you this year.