Miracle in Manhattan: the true story of the Taxi Cab Driver who returned my lost purse.

Sometimes we lose hope in mankind. We think all human beings are selfish and don't care about each other. Think about it. When was the last time you saw someone doing something good for another person? It doesn't happen all that much. Yes, some people do donate money to help others. Yes, I know people who give blood when someone needs it. But simple, normal acts of kindness are those that you seldom see.

That's what I thought the day I left my purse in a Manhattan Taxi Cab. I thought... I'm never seeing it again. Ladies and gentlemen, for your consideration: the story of the amazing cab driver. A really true story.

The last day of my trip. We had a blast, enjoyed the city as always. We even take the flight a little late so we can walk it just a couple of hours and enjoy being home one last time. We take the cab at 3pm. I get in and start listening to the cabbie's music. He has his native jams running, and we're digging it. In fact, we're so distracted by seeing the city one last time, we never notice how fast he got us to JFK.

My boyfriend and I leave the cab in a hurry. We want to upgrade to First Class, and anybody will tell you that those deals you have to get, asap when you get to the terminal or you will lose them to another lucky SOB.

So you can imagine my surprise when I move my hand to grab my purse, to get my credit cards in order to pay for the upgrade when it dawns on me. I don't have my purse.

My purse. My small purse with the following items inside it:
1) Cellular Phone

2) Two Major Credit Cards.

3) My Passport

4) My Boyfriends Passport

5) My license

6) My iPod touch, unlocked.

7) My Personal ATM Card

8) My Business ATM Card

9) The winner of the year: My Social Security Card!

Yeap. I just left my bag inside a Cab who is well on its way to Manhattan.

I start HOWLING. Yeah. Crying is not what I did. I howled. You will never, ever be able to understand the horror that this causes. Losing every single item of ID in one swoop, most of all if you are in an airport about to leave is the most frightening moment of your life. You feel so alone and useless. You are, according to the law... NO ONE.

We start running to every single place where the the taxi might be. Nothing. Since he dropped us by the curve and in a hurry, we never get his receipt. Hence, we don't have the taxi cab number, nor his name... not even his phone number.

I start feeling nausea. This man has every single item of my life. He can basically buy himself a house in a couple of hours if he wants to do it. He can take my credit cards and buy his wife all the diamond tiaras she wants. I cannot stop crying. My boyfriend, on the other hand, is calm. He's telling me... it's ok, we're going to do this. You'll see.

I have no faith in men whatsoever. I am certain I am in deep trouble. I cannot think...

I guess in a moment of crisis your brain acts up, the endorphins kick in gear and then... Bingo. I start yelling: call my cellular phone. He will be able to hear us!

My boyfriend is hitting redial like there is no tomorrow. 10 minutes go by. Nothing. 15 Minutes go by. Nothing. Our flight leaves at 6. It's 5pm. Nothing. I cannot believe this. I have the most loud ringtone ever (The Cure's Boys Don't Cry).

We call up the Taxi Cab Company. Can you page all taxi cabs at once? No. Sorry. If someone calls up with a lost bag, call in an hour to see... I'm already so drained from crying and feeling so scared, I just look up at my boyfriend one last time and tell him: call him one last time.

He picks up, 30 minutes before boarding. My boyfriend starts jumping. He's coming back! He actually asked us if we were ok! The man, believe it, asked my boyfriend if we were still on time to grab our flight and told him to stay exactly where he left us. He drove back. He. Drove. Back.

Everything was in my bag. Exactly as I left it. I started crying again from happiness. I threw kisses at him and repeated again and again how thankful we were. We took every single dollar bill that we had in our pockets and in my bag and gave it to him. The thing that kills me is that, I never got his name. There was no time, since the airline was right there helping us by driving us to the gate (they helped us a lot as well, mainly giving me hugs and telling me that they were going to let us fly anyways).

So... this post is for you, mystery Cab Driver from Manhattan. You are proof that there are good people, still in this world. You could just have shut off my phone and dropped my bag somewhere disgusting in New Jersey in the lost and found pile, never to be seen again and went along with your day. Maybe you could have sold my credit cards to someone who could have hacked them...

But you didn't. You took the time to drive back, speeding I might add, just so that we could make our flight and have all our belongings.

I am humbled by you. You have restored my faith in people in general. I will never forget your huge smile and all the laughs when I told you how happy you made me. You are a wonderful human being and an epic Taxi Driver.

Thank you, unknown cabbie. Much love. Me.

PS: Learn from my lesson. Never leave a Taxi Cab without their receipt and check that it has all their information. Travel with ID's in different bags so you can only lose part and not all of it at once. Lock with a passcode your iPod and iPad, since anyone can get your emails and data from it. If you lose them, call Apple and tell them to run the kill button. At least the next time someone connects to the internet they will be disabled. :-)

Oh yeah. Most importantly. Stop the Damn Leak, BP!

(Please share this post, if you can. I want this story to get to any NYC newspaper or media, if possible. If my Cabbie reads this, I will be very happy!)