To Whom It May Concern:

I hope you are enjoying your new toolbox and all of the things that came with it. It's quite a nice toolbox, I know. I hope you're using it to its fullest potential. I'd like to tell you the story of that toolbox and it contents, though, because the day you picked it up out of the street was the day I lost some important memories. I know the old saying goes, "Finder's keepers," but did you really have to take it seriously?

It was Friday, June 9th when you picked up my toolbox out of the street at the first light in Farmville. A good samaritan had come up behind me two lights later to inform me that something had fallen out of my truck, but I wasn't quick enough to get back to it before you could grab it. I was completely crushed to see that it wasn't laying in the street or over on the side of the road.

You see, I don't ride around with a box like that full of tools because I want it to appear that I work, I used those tools almost every day. The whole week leading up to June 9th, I had been working at my grandparents' home to get ready for my cousin's high school graduation party. When that box went missing, all I could do was look up at the sky and ask why this had happened to me.

A few days later, I took to Facebook with hopes of getting the word out there. I think you may have seen that post though, since it was shared 205 times and Farmville is not a very big town. You had the opportunity to be a good person, but you chose to decline.

So, here is a little back story on the purchase of the box. I had been eyeing it for about 8 months when I finally worked a deal with Truckin' Thunder, a company that had done some work on my truck before. I saved up to have something so nice to put in the bed of my truck. The shelves for tools and the ample space in the bottom of the box were big sellers for me, but the gun rack was the final feature to make me pull the trigger. In case you didn't know, there are wheels on it because it had a slide with it in order to stay in place in the bed of my truck. I installed that slide with some of the tools you now have possession of.

Moving on, though, I'd like to tell you about the contents of the box that you now hold as your own. Those mismatch screwdrivers were given to me by my dad. My whole life I have admired him and his ability to fix and build just about anything. In fact, I believe those screwdrivers were used to wire the last two homes we have lived in. I remember following him around as a kid and playing with those screwdrivers because I wanted to be like him. The clear box of drywall screws was used to build the platform of a duck blind just last year. There should be two fairly new Kobalt adjustable wrenches in there also, and I couldn't begin to name how many different things those wrenches have been used to fix.

On the far end of the box lay some mismatch ratchet straps very neatly wrapped up and put away. Those straps have been used to strap down hay bales, four-wheelers, and even assisted me in loading deer into my truck when I was hunting alone. I can't quite remember if there were two hammers or just one laying in the bottom of the box, but if there were two, then the newer one belonged to my papa. Close by should be a set of short jumper cables that have saved more than one friend with a dead car battery. Beside the jumper cables, you found a few trail cameras, and they are top of the line. One of those actually came face to face with a black bear 2 summers ago, but one of those was also my papa's.

The last thing I want to touch on that was inside that box were a few boxes of .12 gauge shotgun shells. In September of last year, I attended a banquet in Fishersville for the Western Branch of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association. I bought a pass to shoot clay pigeons at the Omni Homestead Resort, and those shells came with the pass. The money I spent that night went towards funding for youth hunts, veteran hunts, and habitat growth for deer. That money went to a good cause, and even though you now have possession of the shells, the money still took a veteran hunting last winter.

I know I didn't touch on every single thing inside that box, only because this letter would be much longer. I don't believe listing everything and it's personal value to me will change anything, and I accepted the facts over a month ago; I will never see my toolbox again. It was pretty sad that people in town told me to check the local pawn shops for my belongings, and even then I came up empty. I've accepted defeat on this one, but I have to believe in my heart that at some point you will get yours.

Sincerely,

The Real Owner