It was like a scene from one of those weird, sad movies. We had just had a wonderful lunch, fashionably late since we are in Paris, we walked the Champs Elysee back to the Place de Concorde to catch the Metro home. It was quintessential Paris...the sort of thing we see in the movies and it was changed in an instant.

We got on the Metro, no problem...we got off the metro, no problem. We walked the short walk home without a problem but in the end there was a problem. Somewhere between the Place de Concorde and our apartment my wallet was stolen. You've seen in in movies or maybe in advertisements for credit cards or insurance companies. Who knows when, the wallet was in my pocket. I try to remember in Paris and most of Europe to put my wallet in my front pocket but habit wins out sometimes. When I am not thinking it ends up in the traditional American male spot of the hip pocket. But not a good idea in this environment. It wasn't there.

OK...we can handle this. I knew exactly what was in my wallet. I guess this is unusual but for some reason I remember things like this. Called the credit card companies. American Express, no problem, they will FedEx a new card to me and I should have it in two business days. Bank of America, Discover, likewise...they will mail them to my address in the US and I will get them FedExed to me from there. But the Bank Debit Card that I use to access my bank accounts which is to say, get cash, was not so easy. I spent over an hour on the phone from France to the US only to be told that it would take two to three weeks. Why? Well they updated my address since I moved from Chicago and for some reason I told them that today, so it would take three days to process that change. They could not send the card to any address but the one on my account so I would have to go to a branch to get the card...what part of Paris France do they not understand. OH...out of the country. Well that would take three weeks to mail it. No they won't FedEx it...not even using my FedEx account for the charges. So after much complaining and stressing out, they finally agreed to research what could be done. Two hours later, we can FedEx it to an address in the US but it must be the address on the account. With an "alternative approach" they could change my address today and FedEx it out this afternoon. But the new address still had to be in the USofA. Glad one of our children decided to stay an American resident.

Is all this life changing? No not really. I am luckier than most...only one card was attempted to be used, and it was not successful, before I got all the proper notices out. I did lose my Social Security Card...though I suspect the person who lifted my card will not have much use for that, in the US perhaps but not here given that the most logical thief was a gypsy on the street. Still all the agencies were notified. It could have been much worse. I will be fine. But it did make me stop and wonder.

I wonder if they targeted me because I looked American or a tourist or was it just luck that they got my cards. I wonder what would have happened if I had had a cheat sheet in my wallet with all the pin numbers. I wonder what might have happened if this had occurred in the US. And then I wondered what makes a person take something from someone else's pocket. My French son says it is likely that it was gypsies and most likely a child as this is common in Paris. A child...really? There was no cash in the wallet. I'm one of those guys who uses a money clip so it was only cards. Ironically the credit card folks were worried about fraud because my driver's license was in the wallet as well...why does this make it fraud susceptible...I'll never know and probably don't need to.

I wondered about the child, if it was a child, that was taught to do this and where do they end up. The UNC ran a very successful, even iconic, ad campaign for years that said "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" and somehow that keeps going through my mind tonight as I think about some child being taught to pick pockets for cash, credit cards and the like. It has to be a spiral down from there...where does the mind go to excel if all it is taught is to steal? I find myself thinking about who took the wallet and what did they "need" that caused them to do it? Would I have helped them if they had asked? Not likely, especially since I would not understand them and given the number of "gypsies" at all the tourist stops I would probably simply kept my head down and kept walking. Could we make a difference in these lives and minds if we stopped? Not likely. But still...I wonder about the person anyway.

So tonight I will go to sleep in my apartment in Paris and think about what I should have, could have, would have done if I had known. I will go to sleep thanking all the folks who helped me out today as I tried to solve all the problems and get new cards. I'll go to sleep thinking about where do I find a new wallet...how do I keep it safe next time.

So the day ends...