How forgetfulness can bestow pleasant surprises

I, like most Wisconsinites, have an abundance of built up ice but no salt. Anticipating a worse winter than usual, I'd doubled up my salt supply in December and I still managed to blow through almost all of it. So yesterday I went digging through my shed. I knew that somewhere in there was a nearly full bag of sand that would at least make my icy sidewalks safe. After moving my lawn furniture and digging to the bottom of a round tub that would be better served cooling a quarter barrel, I found my bag of sand. Much to my surprise, though, was a bag of pure gold right next to it. 2 winters ago, I did not use all of my salt. In fact, I ended up with a full, unopened bag left over. I had stored it away for future use and then forgotten about it. Finding that bag of salt was probably more exciting to me than any gift could have been at that moment. When you are 16 years old, it is unimaginable that finding a bag of salt will be terribly exciting when you're 32, but it was.