Found, Lost, and Redemption

In the real world, things are supposed to progress in a certain order. Found things need to be lost first and redemption is supposed to follow loss. But as so often happens at the Knot in the Loop real world rules rarely apply and Einsteins theories of all things being relative are directly related to how many beers a person might have consumed that day.

One day during a large biker rally in Fredericksburg, a group say 30 or so bikers came roaring into the Knot. They were led by a cute lil' gal with a big wad of cash. Waving the dead presidents around in the air, she spoke the words every bar owner loves to hear, "Get everybody in here a beer." Wayne and I started throwin' beers fast as we could and she paid with a big grin and as all her biker buddies gathered round she told us this story: That morning she had gone to an ATM to get some money. Another Harley couple was already using the machine so she waited her turn. They got done, jumped on the bike and grabbin' gears, thundered off. At this point all her buds gathered closer, it was obvious they had already heard this story and were waitin' for the punch line. She stepped up to an ATM that was beep, beep, beeping itself silly and found $200 still sitting in the "take your money now" slot. That brought hoots and howls and lots of backslappin' from all her compadres, as well as me, Wayne and a few of the locals that were listenin' intently. She said she hung out for awhile to see if they might come back, could've happened, she seemed like the honest type, but no one showed. In any case she ended up with the loot and we ended up with free beer. Everybody was whoopin and high fivin' and havin' a real good time. And just so you know we're not totally without feeling at the Knot we all raised our beers in a toast to our unknown benefactors, whomever they might have been. We told stories about findin' stuff, lucky breaks, and cops that let you go when they shouldn't have, and then they roared off to the next waterin' hole.

A little later another group of Hogs putt in, they order up, ramble around, check out the museum like decor and eventually make their way to the bar. I strike up a chat with the nearest lady to me, who seemed a little down, and as her listless group stared off the walls, she tells us this story: Last night they all partied until the bars closed or they ran outta cash, or both. She woke up hung down, went to an ATM to fund a new round of partyin', and in her "head filled with cobwebs morning", left without the $200 bucks she took out. She was really feelin' bad in a "I must be the dumbest person in the world,and my husband is super pissed at me" way. The fact she was blond wasn't helpin' at all.

Now this put Me, Wayne and the locals in a damn tight spot. Heck we were still burpin' up the bubbles from the free beer we'd had, and one of the locals was still sippin' backwash waitin' for the day to bring another free beer.(He's a kinda cheap fella.) I glanced at Wayne, he looked kinda guilty back at me and right there and then we knew what had to be done. The only way this little blond was gonna feel better was if she knew that at least somebody was enjoyin' her loss. So, we proceeded to tell her about the bikes, the gal, the beers and the fun. She really perked up, especially when we got to the part about drinkin' a toast to her.
By the time we got done tellin' the story, with a whole lot of embellishment thrown in, she was radiant. She was the star of her group, she had a great story to tell, and we bought her a beer to top it off. I think the cheap fella mighta got her one too. So what started out to be a real lousy day for her, ended up being purty dang good, all things being relative.

I think sometimes when you lose something its the not knowin' where it ended up, or who ended with it that makes you nuts. Are they takin care of it, do they love it like you did, is it in a good place, you get the idea.

And if Merriam Webster is right and redemption is: the act, process, or an instance of redeeming, and redeeming is: serving to offset or compensate for a defect, then on that glorious spring day, what happened was nothin' short of devine.