This article was published in the "Martinelli Newspapers" in the October 19 , 2006 weekly issue of The Westchester Crusader, The Rye Chronicle, The Eastchester Record, The Pelham Sun, The Sound View News Home News & Times, The Mt. Vernon Independent, Harrison Independent
and North Castle News

Life and Money TM - "Losing and Finding - Part 1 "

By Frank Sisco, CPA, PFS

Copyright 2006 Frank Sisco

Cell - 914.589.1013; Email – ideasmoney@aol.com

www.LifeAndMoney.com

(Word count =806 plus 68 words for About the Author)

Last week my heart went through a roller coaster ride of "losing" and then "finding" my Macintosh laptop and the 500 gig LaCie Back up hard drive.   The problem started at 5pm when I realized I was running late for an appointment and dashed out of my client's house on Fletcher Avenue, figuring I'd scurry to my office and be only 10 minutes late.   When I approached my car, holding my small brief bag and car keys in my left hand and my large briefcase in my right, I pressed the car remote, but the door locks did not open.   Weird, I thought.   Then I placed my large briefcase on the sidewalk to free up my right hand, walked into the street and opened the driver door with my key.   Oh no!   I left my headlights on and the battery is dead.   Fortunately, a neighbor from across the street noticed my predicament and helped me start the car with his battery charger.   I thanked him and sped off, oblivious as to what I left on the sidewalk.   I did not notice my briefcase was missing until three hours later when I left my office and approached my car to place boxes of stuff into the back seat.   It hit me.   I left my briefcase back on Fletcher Avenue!

As I drove back to Fletcher Avenue in Mt. Vernon, I prayed that the briefcase would be where I left it.   Utter disappointment when it wasn't.   Then, I hoped a Good Samaritan recovered it for the time being to keep it safe and planned to return it to me.   But why didn't anyone call me at the phone numbers that were evident in my briefcase, taped on the computer and on business cards?   While I stood on Fletcher Avenue waiting for the attending police officer and detective to fill out the incident report and paperwork, I felt very low. I spoke to neighbors and passers-by but there were no leads, just a growing sense of failure.   I even blamed, to myself, one neighbor who saw the unattended briefcase from his second-floor kitchen window but did not report it, or recover it.     When I got home and spoke to my wife and daughter, my upset about what happened intensified.    Even though the laptop had password protection, a serious thief and/or hacker could probably circumvent the password and access the volumes of confidential information of not just myself but of many of my clients and relatives.   I tossed and turned all night.   As I lied in bed, I saw, in my mind's eye, many of my computer files that could not be recreated, like my draft 350-page manuscript for my nonfiction book that I was readying for publishing next month, or all those tax returns.   The hundreds of poems and songs.   Scores of edited videos!   With each realization of what was lost, I became sadder.   Lying there in bed, my praying became more intense.   I pleaded for God to help me.   To show me the right actions to take.   He answered me, and swiftly.

When I awoke, I was not drained by the lack of sleep, but rather revitalized by the belief that my prayers would indeed be answered.   I became confident I would recover the briefcase and contents and it would happen soon. The idea hit.   A $1,000 Reward! That's what I'll do.   I called Don at WVOX who gladly agreed to help me by airing frequently a reward announcement.   I created reward posters on my desktop computer, typing what I lost, my first name, office phone number and cell number.   After I made 300 copies, something stirred in me and led me to add the following, handwritten words to each poster, "God Bless You" and draw a circle around the words. I enlisted the help of my daughter Kelly and the two of us nailed or taped the posters to poles up and down Lincoln Avenue from New Rochelle through Pelham and into Mt. Vernon.    Also, on Gramatan Avenue in Fleetwood, Mt. Vernon.    As I sat in my car waiting for Kelly to use the bathroom at Athena's Restaurant, with my next plan of placing reward posters at Mt. Vernon High School, my cell phone rang.   A soft-spoken woman, Samina, said that she was calling for a friend whose 13-year old son, Matheus, recovered my computer and hard drive and he would be returning it to me later that day.   She also mentioned she believed God was helping me.   I started to cry.   From the profound relief of getting my life back.   But perhaps more importantly from the realization of the speed at which God's grace worked in answering my prayers.   By showing me the right actions to take, namely to have faith and reach out to the community.   In my next column, more about this story and the boy's decision.

About the author.

Frank Sisco is a CPA and Personal Financial Specialist, and author of many articles about personal finance and issues of life and money.   His firm, Financial Management Corporation, is located in New Rochelle, NY, where he resides with his wife and daughter.   He can be reached at 914.740.4422 or by email at ideasmoney@aol.com.   Visit his website at www.LifeAndMoney.com, which contains this and prior articles.