B103: What’s the latest on Mary’s lost red wallet saga?

So… a quick update on my lost red wallet saga! If you listened to my recent episode on “How to not lose your ISH when you lose your ISH,” then you know that I recently lost my red wallet… it literally fell out of my purse while I was running across town to catch a train. WOOF! What a nightmare!!

Well, here’s the update on this lost red wallet saga… my goodness, the plot thickened! 

Sooooo… I’ll cut straight to the punchline – my red wallet is still missing. (whomp whomp) However, there was a plot twist!

When I lost my wallet (which is called a “purse” here in the UK… super confusing!) I was headed out of town for a week-long vacation traveling around England. (Not exactly how I’d hoped to kick off my “relaxing” time off!)

And when I returned back on Valentine’s day a week later, I decided to retrace my steps where I (foolishly!) ran across the tram tracks during my big sprint. 

I was really, really hoping to find my wallet just laying there but… it wasn’t. However! Instead of finding my stuff, I ended up finding someone else’s driver’s license, library card, student ID, bus pass and even a winning scratch-off lottery ticket! WOW! 

I found Felix’s most precious forms of ID and I instantly knew, deep down inside, what I had to do next. 

I had to do the right thing and return them all to him, no matter what.

Since his driver’s license has his home address on it (and it seemed like it was issued recently), I wrote Felix a handwritten letter, inserted all of the cards and the lotto ticket… and sent it off to him in the mail. 

Here’s what I said in my letter:

Dear Felix,

Crazy story… I lost my red wallet on Friday, February 7th, 2020 and when I went back to retrace my steps, I found your cards instead.

These were found on the tram tracks between Nottingham Contemporary and the Nottingham train station stop… on the tram bridge. No wallet, just the cards and this winning lotto ticket!

I hope this bit of good fortune brightens your day today. Whilst my wallet (and all of my cards, yikes!) are still missing in action, I hope some kind soul will return mine one day, as well.

Take care and always remember, the kind people of the world will always out-number the horrible ones. We just have to keep our eyes open to spot the good ones.

Love, 

Mary

I sent that off a week ago and I’m super happy to report that yesterday I received a letter back from Felix! This makes my heart sing and I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear all day long from it.

Here’s a bit of what he wrote:

Dear Mary,

I just wanted to say thank you for returning my found cards. I know someone pinched my wallet around the [Nottingham] Contemporary. Has yours turned up?

I was going to send flowers but then I was worried that lots of people are allergic. So, I have my favorite Lupins in a packet [like a packet of flower seeds!] and thought that if you were allergic, at least you could plant them far away and look at them.

Anyway, I’ve sent you a new scratch card and made something silly to send my gratitude. [I] truly wish good luck for you.

~Felix

Isn’t that the most wonderful thing in the world!!?! Kindness breeds more kindness and we as a collective rise up stronger in Love.

So, let’s talk about the scratch-off lotto card that he sent me…

I’m currently estimating that it’ll cost about £500 to replace all of my IDs, cards, and valuables from my wallet. And I had a split-second moment of giddy when I thought… “what if this lotto ticket is a winning ticket? Top prizes of £100,000, I only need £500… I mean, WHAT IF???!”

I savored the idea throughout the entire day, scratching off one bit at a time nice and slow. At one point, I needed to scratch off three £100k to win and I had two showing already on my card. “God, are you for reals here?? Is this literally how the story is going to go next??!” 

I kept my cool, made a cup of tea, took a walk around the block to clear my head and yes, I couldn’t stop smiling.  What an epic journey, what an epic story!!

I only had one more square to scratch off on the card. Part of me didn’t want to scratch it… just let this giddy, abundant, joy-filled feeling last a few moments more. And then my kiddo Zoë said to me, “just scratch it. Go for it, mum.”

And so I did.

Aaannnddd… I didn’t win. Not a winning ticket, not this time.

But boy howdy, I still felt like an absolute winner in life because of all that brought me to this moment. The highest of highs and the devastating lowest of lows. Joy, love, kindness… suffering, anger, fear. And it made me realize… that’s all part of life, huh? 

You can’t appreciate the peaks without the contrast of dipping way down into the dark valleys.

And while my wallet is still traveling around the world somewhere (or worse, sitting in the bottom of a garbage bin somewhere), I hold out hope that it’ll return to me one day. My mailing address is inside it. My most precious forms of ID that are really, really expensive to replace are in there, as well.

I’m offering a reward upon return, no questions asked. 

Wouldn’t it be cool if this lost red wallet came back to me this week!

And the upside to this whole saga is that I’ve now got a pen pal and a friend in my city named Felix… I’m definitely writing him back and following this thread of kindness a little bit further.

So yeah, that’s the update on my red wallet saga… to be continued!

I have a favour to ask, people of Nottingham!

If you live in or around the area, would you do me a favour and share this episode with your neighbor? The more people who know about this, the better the chance we’ll find this wallet as a collective. And won’t it feel GREAT when we can come together as a community to inject a little kindness into the world and work towards a common goal?

Anyone know anyone at BBC Radio Nottingham or the Nottingham Post?

Click here to listen to all the details on the night that I lost my red wallet (aka. my red purse) …on Friday 07 February 2020.

Here is what the red wallet looks like, the exact path I ran on February 7th in the city centre of Nottingham and the narrow 25 minute window where I lost it and how to get in contact with me to return it for the reward. 

There’s one ID card in there that’s the MOST important thing I’m hoping to get back… and a picture of my kids when they were babies, too.

Thank you so much for helping me spread the word!