Heart and Purpose Found on the A/C/E Subway in NYC

In a New York Times article entitled, “We Found Our Son in the Subway,” Peter Mercurio recounts a heart-warming story of how he and his Partner of three years at the time had their lives changed forever by a total stranger in a New York City Subway – a new born baby boy!

Mercurio writes;

“Danny called me that day, frantic. “I found a baby!” he shouted. “I called 911, but I don’t think they believed me. No one’s coming. I don’t want to leave the baby alone. Get down here and flag down a police car or something.” By nature Danny is a remarkably calm person, so when I felt his heart pounding through the phone line, I knew I had to run.”

Danny stayed with the baby until Peter arrived, still waiting for authorities to respond. Ultimately, Family Court took custody of the infant. As you might expect, the story garnered a great deal of media attention, nicknaming the new born, “Baby ACE” after the A/C/E subway on which he was found. You might think this is where the story ends and Danny and Peter would simply have an amazing story to tell to family and friends on how they found a baby boy on the subway for years to come.

Peter writes, however, “What neither of us knew, or could have predicted, was that Danny had not just saved an abandoned infant; he had found our son.”

Three months after finding “Baby ACE” on the subway, Danny appeared in Family Court to recount how he found the infant. Enter the family court judge, a remarkable and intuitive woman, unnamed in the story, who at the hearing, asks Danny, ““Would you be interested in adopting this baby?”

Peter recollects, “The question stunned everyone in the courtroom, everyone except for Danny, who answered, simply, “Yes.”

“But I know it’s not that easy,” he said. (Danny).

“Well, it can be,” assured the judge before barking out orders to commence with making him and, by extension, me, parents-to-be.

Peter Mercurio

My first reaction, when I heard, went something like: “Are you insane? How could you say yes without consulting me?” Let’s just say, I nailed the “jerk” part of knee-jerk.

In three years as a couple, we had never discussed adopting a child. Why would we? Our lives were not geared for child rearing.” (Peter).

Danny was an underpaid social worker and Peter an aspiring playwright, struggling to make it financially in the Big Apple.  Peter ultimately changed his mind about the adoption, writing, “But here was fate, practically giving us a baby. How could we refuse?”

The adoption case worker, told Danny and Peter the process would take at least 9 months before they would be allowed to take custody of “Baby ACE,” enough time to get their lives in order and prepare for the addition to their family.

Enter the Family Court Judge again. A week after being told the process would take several months, Danny and Peter were required to appear before the Judge to state their intentions to adopt “Baby ACE,” just three days before Christmas. The Judge asked, “Would you like him for the holiday?”

Peter recalls, “Our nine-month window of thoughtful preparation was instantly compacted to a mere 36 hours. We were getting a baby for Christmas.”

They spent that year as Foster Parents and again appeared before the Judge to finalize the adoption. At the hearing, Peter writes, “I raised my hand. “Your honor, we’ve been wondering why you asked Danny if he was interested in adopting?”

“I had a hunch,” she just said. “Was I wrong?” And with that she rose from her chair, congratulated us, and exited the courtroom.  

Well, you might think this wonderful story ends here and you would be wrong.

Some 12 years later, after same sex marriage became legal in New York State, “Baby ACE,” now named Kevin suggested the Judge who handled the adoption marry his parents. She agreed and with Kevin by their side, Danny and Peter were married.

Peter concludes, “I reflected on the improbable circumstances that delivered all of us to this moment. We weren't supposed to be there, two men, with a son we had never dreamed of by our side, getting married by a woman who changed and enriched our lives more than she would ever know. But there we were, thanks to a fateful discovery and a judicious hunch.”

And now, as the late great, Paul Harvey would say, “You know the rest of the story.”

(I highly recommend reading the entire article by ,“We Found Our Son in the Subway,” it will make you smile and renew your faith in the goodness of many people in this world.) Peter has also written a play on their experience entitled ““Found (a True Story).”

Concentration Camp Survivor, Dr. Victor Frankl said some 50 years ago in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning,”  that people can find purpose in a cause, a person, or a work, often all three. Danny and Peter found a life purpose they could have never imagined on a Subway in New York City in the form of an innocent abandoned baby boy in need of nurturing and love. They did so, by using their moral heart to do the right thing and emotional heart to give their love to a total stranger. And let’s not forget the Family Court Judge, who used her moral heart to do the right thing by following her intuition that Danny and Peter would make great parents at a time where adoptions by same sex couples was not widely accepted.

For more on finding purpose in your life and how to follow your moral and emotional heart, see “Don’t Seek Success – Be Happi.”

Be Great!

MB