Love this note…

My wife found this note on our car Sunday morning as we packed up our camp site at Taum Sauk State Park.

“What are the chances someone will take our rope?” That’s what I told my wife as we backed our car out of our campsite to go on a hike. It had rained for 15 hours and our gear was wet. Once the sun came out I strung a rope to  use as a clothesline. The problem was the only sunny spot was over the vacant campsite next to ours. I didn’t think it was a big deal, because only three of the 12 campsites were being used (that’s why I didn’t take the rope down after putting away my dry sleeping bags). What was the chance someone would want the one next to ours? Turns out JT and his wife did. Plus, JT thought the previous campers had forgotten their rope, he took it, cut it and used it to tie up his hammock.

In all honesty I’m not mad at JT for taking my rope. It’s my fault for leaving it strung up over a campsite that wasn’t mine. What made me sad was that it was a new rope. I hate wasting money and thru my own stupidity I had wasted money. But, JT is a good guy.

When we crawled out of the tent Sunday morning. JT and his wife had already packed up and left. However, they didn’t take everything…sitting on the hood of my Explorer was a bundle of new rope and the note. JT didn’t have to do that…and goodness knows the rope he left is 10X better quality than the one he took of mine…but, he did and I’m impressed.

How many times do we unintentionally  wrong people in our lives, never say anything about it and then feel guilty for a long time? JT would never have taken my rope on purpose. He thought it was abandoned and then after he cut it into multiple lengths here I come saying, “did you see my rope?” I caught him off guard and I’m sure he felt horrible and wanted to make amends. Well JT, I appreciate your note and I accept your apology…although none was needed. I did use your note as a teaching tool for my kids and I hope they’ll learn that a simple, honest, handwritten note can have an amazing impact on others.