A week ago, I was in Palm Springs airport preparing to leave on my vacation. I breezed through the security check with “preferred” status and was on my way to the boarding gate for my flight when the sun hit on something in the landscaping alongside the sidewalk. Curious, I walked over and picked up the object that had caught the sun’s rays and saw that it was a memory card. I put it into my purse and didn’t give it another thought until I arrived in Canada and was looking for something in my purse.
I told my son/daughter-in-law the story of finding this memory card at the airport and asked if they could open it to see what was on it. They put the card into my son’s computer and dozens of family photos emerged. With all the pictures on the card, they were able to determine an address, but they also discovered the name of a woman on an award for service to an organization, after which a Google search led them to a city/state to go with the address. I was amazed at how easy it was to “find” the owner of the card, but the story does not end here.
Son looked up possible phone numbers for the name he discovered and decided to make phone calls to track her down, verify it was her card, and then return it to her. He made a couple of calls, left messages, and then we waited. Sure enough, Charlotte called and was delighted to learn that I had found her memory card; however, the story that goes with it is amazing. She was visiting Florida and either lost her camera or it was stolen from her. She’s never been in California, so she had no idea how the memory card ended up in the landscaping at Palm Springs Airport. She was delighted that we had the card and would return it to her because the photos on the card were special to her.
My son told Charlotte that he saw the photo of her award and recognition for service to an organization that helps people with liver disease, which my son has had for the past 20 years. After a conversation between them, Charlotte told my son that she would keep an ear open for any break-throughs in his type of liver disease, which is auto-immune chronic hepatitis.
When I left Canada this past weekend, the envelope containing the memory card went into the mail. I continue to marvel that I found the card and that my son and daughter-in-law were able to find the owner. That she had never been in California and had the camera taken from her in Florida astounded me. And, finally, what are the chances that she was recognized for her service to an organization that works with liver patients?
All in all, one of those weird, but true "6 degrees of separation" stories.
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Addendum: It was NOT Charlotte's camera card after all. Charlotte had a photography and video crew filming her one day for a documentary that was to include her based on the drug she was taking that cured her of Hepatitis C. It was one of the photog's flash cards, and the photog lives in CA. Charlotte was able to contact the crew, find the person who owned the card, and mail it to her.
Luckily, in terms of the documentary they were making, the lead on the crew had already uploaded the pictures to a cloud site and they had access to the pics to use in the film for their presentation.
But, all's well that ends well; everything got where it needed to be, we have an interesting story to tell, and Charlotte got to be involved in the ever-evolving story of this flash card.
Thanks for the update. What a series of people, places and events.
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