PART I

My wife and I believe in the power of the Universe as opposed to God, per se. However, the Universe and “God” are very much the same to us, both being mostly benevolent forces that reward good deeds and punish bad deeds in a Karmic way.

Sometime in May of this year, my wife lost her prized sunglasses one day in Puerto Vallarta. She ransacked our condo and our car over a two-day period but never could find the sunglasses. She was devastated.

After about a month had passed, my wife found the same sunglasses online and asked me to order them for her, which I did. However, they weren’t scheduled to ship for at least two weeks.

Two weeks later (July 15th) the shipment date came and the online retailer ran my credit card, which was declined. I told my wife I would try another credit card when we got back from her doctors’ appointment.

I waited for her in the car during her appointment. When she opened the door to get in the car, she suddenly exclaimed, “Oh, my God!” With wide eyes she held up for me her missing sunglasses, which were wedged between the passenger seat and the door. How she missed them before is a mystery, but there they were! I canceled the online order.

PART II

The afternoon before my wife found her glasses, we returned by bus from a weekend trip to Mexico City and took a taxi home. Upon arriving at our house, we became distracted because we realized we had forgotten our house key. Worse, it began to rain. We huddled outside our front door in the rain for about a half hour while we waited for our home’s caretaker to come let us in.

The following morning, right before taking my wife to her appointment, I realized that I had left my very expensive and much beloved Leica camera in the taxicab. My heart sank. We had taken some great photos in Mexico City that were now possibly lost forever, not to mention my precious camera.

We live in a small town with a single taxicab company, which gave me some hope. I decided I would print out some reward posters in Spanish, then take them to the bus station and distribute them to the taxi drivers who showed up. I offered a 2,000 peso reward (about $100) for the return of my camera.

My wife and I drove to the bus station after her appointment. About 10 cabs were lined up there, waiting for arriving passengers from the Guadalajara bus. I parked the car, grabbed my posters and walked up to the first cab driver in line. Before I could even show him the poster he looked at me with a knowing smile… it was our cab driver from the day before! He reached into his glove box, grabbed my camera, and gave it to me. Unbelievable!

My wife and I were both walking on air for the rest of the day. The Universe had definitely shined down upon both of us that morning.

And, yes, I gave the cab driver the reward!