Almost a Happy Ending

  The story I'm about to tell you will be hard to believe but all of it is true. You must know I have never concerned myself lucky. 

It all started Friday night. I found this beautiful Dutch bike online. I mean I was swooning hard. Of course, I messaged the owner and we planned that we would meet at five to see the bike. Well, my messages kept going to their spam folder so I didn't have their address. So we rescheduled for 6:30. As soon as we planned it, he emailed me back and said the bike was stolen last night. I'm not sure if that's 100% true but I would like to think this person is truthful and was victimized. Plus, just my luck. 

Well at least now I got to go to the movies with friends. I was a little late to reserve tickets with them. So we got to the theater and asked if it was possible to add another seat there. They said no but maybe you are the one person next to them. I was! How lucky is that. So I got to sit with my friends! We saw Fault in our Stars. I only cried once when they were in Amsterdam. 

This morning I was lying in bed and thought I really want a bike. I had ever intention of seeing a man about a bike. So I decided to look online a bit and see if I could find a bike, meet the person today and be done with it. I clicked in one image and there staring back at me was my bike. MY BIKE! I couldn't believe. I freaked out a bit trying to figure out what to do. I facebooked people and ended up calling Adrienne. She's a life saver!!!! She was able to contact the police. About an hour later, we were on our way. The police took our statement and came with us to the bike shop where it was being sold. 

As soon as we arrived I searched for my bike. I couldn't find it there. Now this part included a lot of German and I'm not sure how exactly it went but these are the facts. We checked the frame number. It was my bike. They remember the man who sold it to them. They even had his name. But for my bike-- it was sold. They don't have the woman's name either. She paid cash. The only chance is if she comes back or the police find it. Now since they have a better lead, they now really look for it. It's like a notice. They don't do that for all. So my chance are still slim but before they were very small. The unbelievable thing is they sold the bike on the 20th but the ad was posted on the 27th. They think their internet woman messed up/ took too long to put the ad on the site. If she didn't screw up, I wouldn't have found a lead. If the bike on Friday night wasn't stolen. I wouldn't have looked this morning. It's crazy. I'm not sure why all it happened without coming out with my bike. But maybe one day I will have it back. 

In the meantime, I still look for a bike. I looked the rest of the day with no luck. So all my plans for the day went out the window. I did get to have a very nice day with Adrienne. I owe her big time! 

Now I'm off to dinner with some friends and colleagues.

Even though, I didn't get the bike. I believe I'm the luckiest girl. I have had countless birthday wishes, voice mails in both German and English, a wonderful friend who spent her day off with me looking and looking for bikes, and an amazing family and friends in the States that are counting down the days until I'm home. 

Update: Dinner was great! I'm not one to party late. I'm too old for this ... like Danny Glover says in Lethal Weapon.