OK, folks. Nothing but good news
and happy endings today.
First, remember when somebody
swiped the Ugly Duckling statue from atop Aesop's Playhouse at Children's
Fairyland last June? It's been returned – just as mysteriously as it
disappeared in the first place!
"Our baby bird was found
yesterday morning, returned to our front gate," Fairyland's executive
director, C.J. Hirschfield, emailed me last week. "He/she needs to be
touched up and re-installed. The money we received in donations, which wouldn't
have been enough for a replacement, will be used for this purpose."
Hirschfield credits media coverage
of the ducknapping for the statue's return.
"I truly believe that the perp
was shamed into doing the right thing," she says.
Next, we have the Christmas
ornaments, which had been lovingly collected over three generations - that were
stolen from Brad and Nenelle Bunnin's home in Berkeley.
The police never caught the
perpetrator, so the Bunnins' 8-year-old granddaughter, Casey, appealed to a
higher authority – Santa Claus.
Sure enough, one of Santa's helpers
came to the rescue.
She's Sarah Kidder, proprietress of
Sarah Kidder Designs in Oakland. Kidder is an event planner and etiquette instructor
who is writing an etiquette book for the 21st Century using examples from James
Bond movies.
"When I read what happened to
the Bunnins I knew I had to do something," she says.
So she handmade customized
ornaments for Brad, Nenelle, and all four of their grandchildren, each one with
the recipient's name on it.
I was there when she handed the new
ornaments over last month. The Bunnins couldn't have been more thrilled.
Brad joked, "This is going to
be the most memorable Christmas since the year I bought a 12-foot tree for an
8-foot room," but I could tell he was moved.
Casey said the ornaments are
"awesome," and when you're eight years old there's no higher praise
than that.
But I think the person who was
happiest of all was Kidder. Doing something nice for somebody else will do that
to you.
Speaking of Kidder, let me wish you
a happy Return To Sender Day. It's a guilt-free day designated for the safe
return of items to their rightful owners.
The idea came to Kidder last spring
when she was re-organizing her office and came across a handful of items that
she'd attempted to return to friends, but to no avail. Later, she realized she
was looking for items that she'd loaned away but never got back.
Thus, RTS Day was born.
"It's a day to help people get
up the nerve to have that awkward 'I-know-it's
been-three-years-but-could-I-please-have-my-book-back?' conversation," she
says. "Friendships can be injured over borrower/lender issues, and RTS Day
can help, especially in touchy situations such as the end of a romance."
RTS Day is observed twice a year –
March 21, the first day of Spring, and today, the last day of Summer. Kidder
has set up a website (sarahkidderdesigns.com) and
Facebook page (facebook.com/RTSDay) with downloadable templates of reminders to
send your friends, such as "Missing: Deep Fryer. Last seen: Your house.
For that BBQ you hosted. You said you'd bring it back Monday. That was nine
months ago. I'd like it back on RTS Day."
Shakespeare's Polonius warned, "Neither a
borrower nor a lender be." But if you must borrow, give it back!
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