A poor mother buys a children’s backpack at a flea market and discovers inside a small purse containing an amulet and Japanese coins. She decides to find its owner and return it, unaware that doing so will change her life forever.
Rachel met her husband, Fred, in a foster home. The two were orphaned at a young age and quickly became inseparable. They married shortly after graduating from high school and had a baby girl named Alicia a year later.
Fred worked as a handyman in Denver, Colorado, and Rachel was a stay-at-home mom. The man worked very hard for his family, but they were barely getting by. Rachel suggested Fred work as a part-time nanny to help out financially, but they had no other family to rely on to care for Alicia.
Rachel found a small purse inside the bag she bought at the flea market | Photo: Shutterstock
When Alicia was 6, Fred suddenly died of a heart attack. Doctors said he had overworked himself and his body suffered. Rachel didn’t even have time to grieve for her husband and began looking for jobs to support her daughter. A few months later, she found a job as a waitress at Cuisine Wave, a small restaurant and bar not far from her home.
One day, Alicia came home from school and asked for a new schoolbag. The old one had several holes that Rachel had sewn up with scraps of fabric, but this time it really needed replacing.
Unfortunately, they were short on money that month, so Rachel decided to go to the flea market and buy one there. She walked along the rows of stalls and saw several pretty bags that she wanted to buy for Alicia, but her budget didn’t allow it. So she continued walking through the market until she came across a beautiful little pink backpack.
It looked very old, but it was also very beautiful to look at. So Rachel bought it.
Rachel bought a pink backpack for Alicia | Photo: Unsplash
At home, when Alicia came home from school, Rachel surprised her with the new bag. The little girl was overjoyed and began to hastily put all her books into her new bag when something fell out from inside. “Mom, did you buy this for yourself?” she inquired, picking up an old-fashioned brown silk pouch.
“A clutch?! No, it’s not mine, darling. Where did you find it?”
“It was in my new backpack, Mom. I thought it was yours.”
Rachel felt a certain weight in her hands as she held the purse. She opened it and found some Japanese coins and an amulet. The amulet was silver in color and had an intricate design, with a picture of a couple and a child inside.
Rachel carefully placed the contents on a table and turned the backpack over to see if there was anything else inside. Suddenly, a small, partially torn address label fell to the floor. Rachel picked it up and noticed that it had an address somewhere in Colorado written on it. “Amanda Turner, 60 Oakland Ave, #216, Colorado,” it read.
Rachel thought it must be the owner’s address and decided to return the bag to her.
Rachel found an amulet in her purse | Photo: Pexels
The next day, Rachel went to the address and discovered a huge mansion for sale. She inquired about Amanda from her next-door neighbor, an elderly woman named Mrs. White, and discovered that she had died a few months earlier and that her husband, Ashton, and their daughter, Lexi, had moved to Wheat Ridge.
Rachel told Mrs. White that she had something to return to Ashton and that she needed to find him. The elderly woman was generous enough and gave her Ashton’s new address.
The next day, Rachel asked for time off and jumped in a taxi with her daughter, determined to meet Ashton. A few hours later, she arrived at the new address, and a tall, thin man in his thirties opened the door.
“Are you Ashton Turner? Amanda Turner’s husband?”
“Yes, how can I help you?”
Ashton met Rachel at the door. | Photo: Pexels
“Hello, I’m Rachel Wesley. I found a pouch in a bag I bought for my daughter a few days ago. It had your wife’s address inside.”
“Oh, so that’s where she was!” Ashton gasped. “Thank you so much! I’ve been looking everywhere for her. Please come in.”
As they settled inside, Ashton told Rachel that the amulet and coins belonged to Amanda, who had died in a plane crash while traveling to Japan with her colleagues.
The purse and amulet were among Amanda’s belongings that the police had recovered and returned to Ashton. Lexi had missed his mother so much that he decided to put the purse and amulet in his backpack to remember her by. However, when they moved to Wheat Ridge, he sold some of their old belongings, and somehow the backpack got mixed up, forgetting that the purse and amulet were still inside.
“I’m so grateful you gave it back to me. Lexi cried for days trying to find it. I don’t even know how to thank you.”
Amanda was returning from Japan when she tragically died in a plane crash | Photo: Pexels
“Oh, that’s okay. I’m glad I could help you.”
“And how can I thank you, little one? Would you like some cookies and milk?” he asked Alicia with a smile.
“Oh no, that’s fine,” Rachel replied. “Please don’t bother.”
“It’s not a problem for me at all,” Ashton said, heading towards the kitchen. “You brought me something that means a lot to me. It’s the least I can do.”
A few minutes later, Ashton returned with biscuits and milk for Alicia and two cups of tea for himself and Rachel. They chatted for a while before Rachel left, and they began to meet frequently afterward. These encounters later turned into friendship and, after several months, love.
Almost a year later, they cemented their relationship with marriage and welcomed a beautiful baby girl.
What can we learn from this story?
- There’s a reason behind everything that happens in life . Rachel found the pink schoolbag at the flea market because she was destined to meet someone who would change her life forever.
- Kindness returns in unexpected ways . Rachel could have kept the coins and amulet for herself or sold them if she had wanted. But she didn’t. She decided to find the owner and return the item, and in return, God gave her a beautiful family.
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