I love it when people leave surprises in library books. Last night, I opened a recently checked-out library book and found this cute little hundred dollar bill bookmark that someone had left in its middle. Did someone leave it there on accident, or was it a gift? I wonder how many treasures I have accidentally left in my library books when I’ve returned them?
Once in a while, I will purposely leave a real dollar bill in a book before I return it. Imagine the look on the next reader’s face when she finds money in her library book! I think that moment of excitement you feel when you find money, even if it’s only a dollar, is worth so much more than the dollar itself. I don’t mind investing in someone else’s moment of happiness once in a while.
I like to think that at least once in a while, that dollar bill will end up in the hands of someone who really needed it at that moment and that it made a world of difference to him. After all, this bookmark materialized in a library book just as I was considering the fact that I didn’t have a bookmark within reach and was going to have to get up off the couch to go look for one. It was exactly what I needed right when I needed it.
Somehow, life always seems to present me with exactly what I need, right when I need it most. I never seem to get more than I need, and it never comes until right when I need it, but the Universe always delivers eventually. Of course, I don’t always get what I want. In fact, I almost never get what I want. But I always do get enough of what I need to get by. I keep reminding myself that enough is as good as a feast.
My grandma used to hide money in her books. No one realized it until several of her children, daughter’s-in-law, and grandchildren were clearing out her apartment after she passed away. I wasn’t there, but I’m told that one of my aunts was packing books into boxes for donation when a couple of bills fell out of a book. She then had to unpack all of the books she had previously packed up and flip through each one to find all of the money Grandma had left behind. Most of the money was donated to the hospital maternity ward where almost all of the babies in our family have been born. There’s a plaque there now with my grandma’s name on it.
I just hope the library thinks to give its old books a good shake before they recycle them so none of my gifts to the Universe end up in the garbage. What’s the coolest item you’ve ever found in a book? Please share in the comments below.
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