by Judi McLeod
November 17, 2004
Somewhere there are angels waiting about in dark, windswept Toronto nights.
That’s a lesson in inspiration that I learned firsthand, a week ago.
The story begins at the local restaurant, Marché where I had been invited to join a client over a business meal.
at the end of the meal, my client who owns a construction firm, received an unexpected telephone call which soon had him racing out of the restaurant for a long drive to Markham.
I hustled up to the cash behind him without bothering to button my coat–and more importantly--to zip up my handbag.
Rushing in his jeep back to Bay and Gerrard, he dropped me in front of the Devil’s advocate, the all-season-watering hall for Canada Free Press staff and many others.
Spotting the green light at the close by corner, I raced to make the light, unaware that my wallet had fallen from my unzipped handbag.
at midnight, I ignored my ringing telephone, thinking it was someone calling in a late-night press release.
You can imagine my surprise when picking up my voice mail about 5:30 a.m. The voice on the message informed me that my wallet had been found on the floor of Shoppers Drugmart and turned in to the night supervisor, the voice leaving the telephone message.
This, of course was impossible. I had taken out my wallet to show the client my honourary Toronto Police association badge at Marches and had not been in Shoppers Drug Mart that day.
When my wallet was returned, everything was intact, including the aforementioned police badge, my media pass and credit cards.
a note from the night supervisor that came with the wallet absolutely floored me. The hand-written note indicated that the wallet had been found on the street in front of Shoppers Drug Mart, around 11:35 p.m. on November 10.
as I had returned home at 6:15 p.m., this meant the wallet had lain on the street where it was dropped for about five hours.
Night or day, Bay Street is a busy one.
This is what I think must have happened. The person who found the wallet saw my Shoppers Drugmart Optimum card. Correctly guessing that the person who lost it frequents the store that issued the card, he or she turned the wallet over to Shoppers’ staff.
Shoppers staff had no identification, let alone a name for the person who returned the wallet, so I have no way other than this column of thanking him or her.
The return of my wallet taught me many lessons.
No matter how harried my clients who must leave in a hurry, I will always take the time to zipper my own purse. I can still recall the nuns in the orphanage where I was raised, admonishing me to "Close your purse, button your coat, mind your mittens."
The incident also taught me about the honesty of strangers right here in my city–in my own neighbourhood.
Newspaper stories are full of stories about crime, petty and otherwise. Toronto truly lives up to its reputation as "Toronto the good."
But the lesson that inspires me most is that the story of my wallet bears out a longheld theory that there are angels out on city streets, watching over all of us.
How else to explain that a wallet could be within easy view on the sidewalk, on busy Bay Street for five hours to be found by someone who would return it intact to someone most likely to give it back to its owner?
angels watch over dark, windswept Toronto nights.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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