Little karma's Delicate Balance

Once upon a time I found a $20 bill on the sidewalk. That's not something that normally happens to me. I was suspicious of my good fortune. I called out to a lady up the street and asked her if she dropped some money. She said no. Honest lady!

I kept the money but put it aside, in an unused pocket in my pocketbook. Why throw away good fortune? To keep from feeling all entitled and what-not, I sent a check for $20 to a charity, for fortune should always be shared with the less fortunate.

I figured I was $20 up in karma, or good luck, or grace of whatever mysterious forces I choose not to name.

A few months (or even years) later, I had a $10 bill in my pocket, the same pocket in which I was carrying a few letters (bills to pay, probably) to drop off at the post office on my way to work. You guessed it, the mailbox accepted the money without question. Stupid mailbox. A letter to my postmaster requesting the money back probably gave the staff a good laugh.

But I figured I was still a good $10 up in karma. Yay, me. I think about the profits and loss whenever I see money on the ground. Yes, I stoop for pennies (but never if they're tails. That's just bad luck, forget about it).

So it should not surprise me that a bit of good luck Monday would turn into bad luck Tuesday. Monday, for some reason, the IRS sent me a check and a letter explaining that they thought I overpaid. Had to do with some retirement money (which was actually my late mother's retirement money, since I'm not retired). Yay me, I'm up $400!

Then, on Tuesday, my credit card was declined at the grocery store and I came home to a message on my answering machine from the credit card company's fraud squad. When I called back they indicated that someone had been trying to use my credit card to buy $600+ of groceries at stores in Chile and Italy.

WHAT??

The good news is that they declined those purchases, but the bad news is that they declined mine too. I'll be getting a new number, a new start. For a few days, though, I'll have to dig into that unused pocket and retrieve my lucky $20 bill.

love, hosaa
respectful, if not reverent, of mysterious karmic/cosmic forces