For years Kris and I have walked every night around the lake in the middle of Libertyville. On weekends we walk at a forest preserve; during bad weather we walk at the local mall. But, we’ve made a sport of something about our walk:
We keep our eyes on the pavement in some areas to look for coins. It began as an accident — Kris occasionally found pennies and then one day I happened upon a little stash of coins on the ground and the game was on. My guess is that our walk through the high school parking lot yields about 25 dollars a year. But we’ve had some highlights:
A few days ago I spied a coin on the ground that looked a little big, and little off color; I picked it up and, sure enough, a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. I think I’ve only seen one of these prior to this discovery.
Once I was standing next to the baseball field and our dog, Webster, picked up a piece of paper which looked familiar — and it was familiar, a one dollar bill.
But, here’s the kicker: the habit of looking down is now ours. So, leaving a Cubs game one day I crossed the street, looked down, saw some money on the ground, picked it up, looked around and I was in the middle of a pack of people and no one was looking for what I had found, and it is a good thing because it was (no kidding!) a 100 dollar bill. The true story is that I thought it was a tenner, we had to keep moving to keep from getting mowed down, and we got across the street and Kris said, “I think that was more than a ten dollar bill.” So I looked and it was a one hundred dollar bill.
Can anyone top that?
So, friends, keep your heads up but your eyes down!