Wallet 101

Happier times...Jackie, Ansley, Rebecca and Cameron still at Mercury Bar.

I don't know if it's me, if it's New York City, or if it's being my best friend, but something has us jinxed! We had not been in New York for three hours when lo and behold - Jackie's wallet was G-O-N-E gone! Somewhere between Mercury Bar, the cab ride to Gatsby's and ordering chicken wings, Jackie and I found ourselves searching puddles, sidewalks, drainage grates and garbage cans in late-night drizzling rain! Even more troubling than the current lost wallet was the fact that this was nothing new. The second time Ansley visited me this summer, she lost a few hundred dollars - what she now likes to call her "donation to the world." On that same trip, a suitcase she brought full of more of my stuff from home was "misplaced" by the airport for several days.

But poor Jackie may have the worst luck with me...in high school her car was stolen from the street in front of my house - our quiet, safe street with my parents awake inside the house! I'll never forget us returning home late at night and the slow realization we both came to that her car was nowhere to be found!

When we came to the realization that her wallet was nowhere to be found on the New York City streets, we slowly walked back to join our group and share the bad news. Jackie - being the always smart and prepared one - was already on the phone cancelling her card and phoning her dad to get her passport in the mail to her ASAP. Actually, Jackie's dad may be the un-luckiest of us all...just as he made a late-night drive to my house after Jackie's car was stolen all those years ago, he made a late-night drive to Jackie's house to retrieve her passport and rush to FedEx by 3 AM!

After I snapped a few crying pictures (pictures I promised would never see the light of day :) ), I couldn't help but see the humor in the situation, and Ansley decided a "Wallet 101" might be a worthwhile posting on here for friends who plan to visit me in the future. However, besides the obvious precautions such as don't carry a lot of cash, only have one credit card, have copies of your wallet contents, and have a back up plan for your back up plan like Jackie...all I can say is, "You've been warned!"