She allowed the curiosity to get the best of her. As soon as she saw the look on the man’s face when he was asked to put the box in the trashcan, she knew that it was something important. She just couldn’t let it go, even though it made her look like a crazy lady. She decided that she needed to open that package. She immediately knew she had a duty to fulfill once she knew what was inside.
As Ivelise Hernandez was heading to the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport she had no clue what was in store for her later that day. Hernandez, a resident of Tampa, Florida, was flying to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a few days. Even though she was looking forward to the trip, she was dreading having to go through airport security. No matter what, going through security is always obnoxious. That day would be an entirely different experience.
Ivelise was brought to the airport by her boyfriend, Rico, and he waited with her as she checked on to her flight. He was also there waiting with her while she was in line for the security check before she needed to be at her gate. As they were talking with one another, they noticed a disturbance at the front of the line. Even though she couldn’t really hear what was going on, it was obvious that the man was in distress.
Ivelise and Rico continued to watch the argument for a little while. It was soon apparent that the passenger was being told by the security guard that he couldn’t take a box with him as his carry-on. The passenger was obviously reluctant to leave the box behind. After all of the arguing, the passenger realized his flight was about to leave, so he had to leave it behind. As tears welled up in his eyes, the man put the box in a trashcan. Ivelise felt sad for the man.
Ivelise couldn’t stop thinking about the man and the package. When she looked at the man’s eyes she knew that there was something extremely important in the man’s package. As Ivelise kissed Rico and proceeded through security, she asked Rico to take the package out of the trash and bring it home. Maybe there was something she could for the man once she got back home. As she boarded her flight, Ivelise had no idea what was to come.
Once Ivelise landed in Pittsburgh she spoke with Rico and asked him what was in the package. Inside of the package was a snow globe. On one side there was a photo of a little girl and a dog, and on the other side, there was an elderly couple. A message was engraved on the base of the snow globe. “We love you, Katie. Nana and Papa 1/25/16,” it said. Ivelise was sad when she realized who the package was for.
Ivelise could tell that the snow globe meant a lot to the man and his family. She immediately knew that she had to try to get the package to its rightful owner. As soon as Ivelise got back home, she began her mission. She took pictures of the globe and posted it on Facebook in hopes of it getting shared enough that the snow globe’s owner would see it. She honestly didn’t think anything was going to come if it, but she would be pleasantly surprised.
Ivelise didn’t have very many friends on Facebook, and even though the post was public, she was surprised to see that the post would get a few hundred shares. After one week, though, the post was shared more than 40,000 times. Ivelise couldn’t believe all of the attention the post was receiving and the number of people that actually wanted to help her. All of a sudden, the case had a breakthrough.
An employee at the personalized gift store, Things Remembered, recognized the item and knew it had been purchased there. The employee knew that she could probably help Ivelise find the owner of the snow globe. She began to search through the store’s records to see if she could find any information. It wasn’t long before she found what she was looking for.
It just so happened that the woman who ordered the snow globe, Linda Modry, was also a resident of Tampa. The employee of Things Remembered got into contact with Ivelise and gave her Modry’s information. Ivelise called Modry to let her know that she had her snow globe. They arranged for Modry to go to Ivelise’s house to pick it up. Ivelise would soon realize how important the snow globe actually was.
Modry explained that the snow globe was a gift for her granddaughter. “This was something really special. It was for my granddaughter, Katie, because my son adopted her on January 25,” she said. Modry gave the snow globe to her son, Michael, while he was visiting from Ohio. Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to bring it on the plane, due to the liquid inside, so he had to leave it behind. The family was heartbroken. That was until Ivelise saved it.
As Modry embraced Ivelise with a hug she said, “I can’t believe it. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much.” As a way of saying thank you, Modry gave Ivelise a bouquet of flowers. “She’s just amazing. I can’t believe that you did this and that you actually found us. People are really good, and she’s just exceptional,”explained Modry. Ivelise doesn’t think that what she did was anything out of the ordinary.
When Ivelise was asked why she went to all of the trouble to get the snow globe back to Modry she explained, “My mom always raised us to always be good to people. If it was me and I lost my snow globe, I would want the same thing to happen to me.” Ivelise expected no reward for her good deed, but she did receive a message that made everything worth it.
As soon as Modry got home from getting the snow globe, she called Michael to tell him the exciting news. Michael put his daughter, Katie, on the phone to leave a message for Ivelise. “Thank you so much in the whole wide world. I love you miss lady,” the little girl said. Ivelise shared the heartwarming story on Facebook and said, “Proud that me and my boyfriend did a great deed for lil’ Katie.” In the meantime, Modry was figuring out how to get the snow glove to Katie.
Ivelise returned the snow globe to the person who bought it, but it still needed to find its way to little Katie. Fortunately, Katie’s birthday was the following month and they had already planned on going to Ohio to see her. They were planning on bringing the globe with them, but this time it would be safely packed in their checked luggage. This way there’s no more trouble. What would you have done if you were Ivelise?