MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A Murfreesboro, Tenn., woman chose not to follow the old saying "Finders keepers, losers weepers" when she discovered nearly $100,000 in a bag at a local Cracker Barrel restaurant. But it wasn't that the thought didn't cross her mind.
"Satan will tempt you," said Billie Watts, 75. "I have been having real bad teeth problems. I thought, 'I'll get my teeth fixed.' "
She ultimately decided to return the money she found in a bag in the women's restroom to its rightful owner.
Watts had to be coaxed by Michael Peralta, one of her 12 grandchildren, to tell her story.
"I'm proud of her because if anyone in the world deserved to find $97,000 it was them," Peralta, 31, said of his grandparents, who live in an apartment and depend on their Social Security checks.
The excitement began when Watts stopped by the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store with her husband, Malcolm, Thursday afternoon. In the bathroom, she found a tapestry bag hanging on a hook on one of the stall doors.
"It had a Manila envelope that was sticking out of the bag," she said. "It couldn't zip up; it was too full."
She searched the bag for the identity of its owner. Inside the envelope was a picture of two women and a child, but no names. Then she spotted the money.
"I said 'Oh my goodness,' " Watts recalled Monday. "I have never seen that much money in my whole life. I counted the money. There was $97,000 in $1,000 bills. They were neatly stacked inside the bag. "
Watts decided to leave the restaurant with the money.
"I was afraid to go to the counter," she said. "Maybe the wrong person could get ahold of it."
After the couple returned home, Watts called the Cracker Barrel restaurant.
"I told them I found something in the bathroom. I just left my number and asked them to call me."
In 10 to 15 minutes, a woman called.
"I knew it was the right person when she called. She identified the picture, the envelope and the money," said Watts. "I met her in front of the Cracker Barrel about 15 to 20 minutes after she called me." more
Every day, we wake up with a choice. We can choose to embrace the day as a new opportunity to learn, grow, and make a positive impact on the world, or we can let fear, doubt, and negativity hold us back. It's easy to get caught up in the challenges and obstacles we face, but it's important to remember that these challenges are what shape us into who we are. Each obstacle is a chance to learn something new, to become stronger, more resilient, and more capable than we were before. But we don't hav
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