Her eyes widened in bewilderment. She had bought the designer bag for just $3! She couldn't believe her luck, how did she manage to find such a bargain? She took it home without a second thought.
But she had no idea that there was something inside the bag. The people that sold her the bag didn't know it either and it would have some major consequences.
Second-Hand Shopper
Sarah Thomas was an ordinary woman from Portland, Oregon. In her free time, Sarah liked spending her time inside second-hand and charity stores.
It thrilled her to search for hidden and undervalued items that were overlooked by the rest of the world. But little did she know that the next time she went, she would find one of those items. But there was more to it than she thought.
Hobby And Income
There was a good reason why Sarah liked second-hand and charity shops as much as she did. Her side hustle was her very own online retail business.
The majority of what she sold there came from her thrifty escapades. It was her hobby but it was also her income. Every store she inspected held a reward or two for Sarah.
Careful Inspection
Sarah certainly had an eye for detail. She always made sure to inspect the rows of second-hand clothing, searching for valuable and rare items.
Oftentimes, small but significant details are unnoticed by even trained eyes. Sometimes Sarah would even miss these details. But when she first noticed this detail, she knew she had stumbled across a bargain.
She Wasn't Expecting It
She found it at a Goodwill store. Sarah was determined to find something good. She didn't want to leave empty-handed, but she wasn't expecting to find something so out of the ordinary.
She had barely ever found bargains from Goodwill stores. But all of a sudden, she spotted it.
Only $3
The item that she had found was a designer bag. It was a lot fancier than anything else in the store. Sarah quickly checked its price tag.
What was really surprising was that the bag only cost $3! When bought brand-new, the bag was worth about $300. She didn't think twice as she grabbed the bag, rushing to the nearest cashier. She handed them her $3 and left the store, but shortly after, she noticed that something was off.
Why Was It Heavy?
The bag felt heavier than it was supposed to. Did someone accidentally leave something inside? She opened the bag and looked inside, but she didn't see anything. It appeared to be completely empty.
She couldn't help but wonder why it felt so heavy, but then she noticed something. There was a small hole in the lining that she hadn't noticed before. Could something be hiding in there?
Bingo!
She stuck her hand into the broken material, and bingo! She felt something metallic inside. She worked carefully, she wanted to remove it from the bag without ripping it even more.
It took a bit of time, but eventually, she managed to get ahold of the mysterious object. When she saw it, she was even more puzzled.
Oudated Camera
She frowned at it in confusion. It was a digital camera. She could tell that it was outdated, it looked like it was straight out of the early 2000s. She wondered if it belonged to the original owner of the bag.
She was curious and wanted to see if it had some old, saved photos. But would that invade someone else's privacy? She was too curious to stop herself. That was where the journey began.
Who Was She?
She found countless photos of a mother and a little kid stored on the device. She wondered who the woman was. Did the bag once belong to her? She checked every photo carefully, trying to find any piece of information.
But she found nothing. It was a mystery waiting to be solved. She wanted to find the woman.
But How?
But there was still one issue: how would she even find her? She didn’t expect any helpful information going back to the Goodwill store: those shops get hundreds of items each day, and they don’t track the people they get them from.
Sarah spent some time racking her brains, trying to come up with a solution. And eventually, she found it: now she knew what to do.
She Had To Do It
Sarah doubted for a bit, but she felt like it was her duty to find the woman in the pictures and give her the camera back. After all, those pictures may have some sentimental value to her.
So she wrote a post on Facebook telling the story of her discovery. She also attached some of the pictures in the camera and asked anyone who read it and knew that woman to please get in touch. After that, all there was left to do was sit back and wait.
It Went Viral
Shortly after, her Facebook post went viral. It was getting liked and shared by thousands of people. And finally, someone reached out with some information.
It was someone who claimed to know that woman. Apparently, her name was Katie Connor. Those pictures had to be from a long time ago, as her son was now a teenager. Sarah got the contact information for Katie, messaged her, and waited for a response.
She Reached Out
And soon enough, she got a reply from Katie Connor. She told her that she didn’t even remember that she ever had that camera, but she would be really happy to have it back.
So the two women arranged to meet at the parking lot of a Target. Sarah drove over there, and as she parked her car, she noticed that Katie was already waiting for her.
Memories
Katie couldn’t even believe that she would ever see that camera again. The photos were taken more than a decade ago, and she didn’t even remember them.
When this story went public, many people had a hard time believing how Sarah went that far and took all that effort just to return a stranger’s old camera. What do you think? Would you have done the same?