Thank You Wallet

Realizing I’d lost my wallet was a stomach-dropping feeling like no other. That feeling was amplified because I was in a foreign country, scheduled to fly home the next day. Thankfully, I still had my passport, and that foreign country was Japan.

After many phone calls and no small amount of prayer, the wallet was found and returned a few weeks later, with all contents intact. A miracle? I thought so. I was very grateful to the finder and wanted to send a financial thank you gift. Just sending it in an envelope did not feel special enough - I wanted to create something more fun for them to open instead.

My returned wallet is crafted out of a single piece of leather, so I thought I’d try making the person a paper wallet that looked like the one they’d returned to me. I could put the yen inside, like a real wallet. So I took mine apart and used it as a pattern. It was uncooperative about laying flat in a reliable way, so it took some paper engineering and more than a few rounds of prototypes that didn’t work before finally getting to this one.

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Note: I’m finding that creating in the midst of grief and loss is healing and encouraging. My hands can be busy making while my mind and heart can wander freely, wordlessly reflecting on all that has happened. Expressing gratitude was a good and hopeful place to be. I do like making things for people.