An Open Letter To a New Jerseyan Who Helped Out A Worried Mainer

Thank you to the Good Samaritan who went above and beyond to return my husband's phone before his 9-hour trip from New Jersey.

Long Winter Drives Without a Phone are Never a Good Idea

You didn't know the importance of that phone when you found it lying on the ground, but you stopped to pick it up. There was no way you could have known that my husband Jim, a native of New Jersey, had been visiting family all week and planned to leave the next morning for the long, 9-hour drive back to Maine. When the phone turned up missing and we couldn't track it remotely, he considered driving back without a way to communicate. That worried me considering the winter weather.

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When Others Would Have Walked By, You Picked It Up and Charged It

But it wasn't enough that you picked up the phone. Jim had tried calling it earlier but was immediately shuttled to voicemail, signaling that the phone's battery had died. You must have carried that phone to a place where you could charge the battery and try to figure out the identity of its owner. I'm guessing you'd given up trying to get into it (password-protected) when my text to the phone popped up with my phone number in the notifications. I had sent a text, hoping he had found the phone and would call back. You texted me that you found the phone, with a picture of his lock screen photo of Toby, and wanted to know how to return it. What an incredible coincidence that you were less than a mile from my father-in-law's home, so getting it back to Jim was easy.

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Regretting Not Learning Your Name

You'll probably never know the worry you saved both of us. Jim made it home this morning, and we discussed your role in returning that phone. Many would have walked by without picking it up or thrown it away when they realized it had a password. Thank you for caring and for reaching out. Fate played a hand in my sending that text after you charged the phone. I'm sorry I didn't learn your name, so I will send this to the Good Samaritan in New Jersey who saved my husband's phone from the side of the Allenwood Lakewood Road. While I thanked you profusely during our text exchange, I want to say it once again. Thank you for going above and beyond. I knew when I met Jim that New Jersey has some good people.

Sincerely,

The Maine Wife of a New Jerseyan