Dear Wal-Mart,

I know we have not had the perfect relationship over the years, but I wanted to take a minute to thank you for what happened this past week. I will be the first to admit it - I am truly thankful for the Wal-Mart employee who found and turned in the iPad my DH left in the cart last Thursday night. By the time I realized the iPad was not to be found (late Friday night), my DH (at that point it stood for dog house rather than darling husband) was gone camping and had not taken his cell phone. So by the time he returned home Saturday afternoon and realized he had left it at your store, we were almost certain the iPad was a gonner.

My hopes were raised when the Mobile Me app couldn't find it - I began to reason it must be in a safe at the store if the homing device was being blocked. Maybe it was me wishful thinking - I mean, I truly and desperately did not want to tell my mother the iPad she had gifted me was already missing. But when the weekend manager was not able to contact the head manager and give a definitive answer about the iPad, and the Mobile Me app wasn't tracking it all weekend, I have to admit my hopes grew.

Sorry to drone on like this. Really, I just want to say I could have kissed the feet of that manager when she called this morning. Only, being on the phone and all, I couldn't see her feet. And when I got to the store to pick it up and saw the dirty floor in there, I just decided to go with a handshake and a gushing "thank you."

Although I have doubted at times, there are really a few good points about shopping at Wal-Mart.