A Berklee College student was reunited with his $22,000 flute after losing it on a Chicago train last week, and says he’ll never part with the instrument again.

Donald Rabin accidentally left the flute, which he bought with an inheritance from his grandmother, on a train during a layover in Chicago.

“I realize ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, my flute is gone. my flute is gone,'” Rabin recalled, saying he begged a transit employee for help. “She called the train and gave this really mournful face, saying “I’m sorry, no one found your flute.”

Rabin spent hours jumping from train to train, searching for the flute, and then posted about it on Facebook, drawing the attention of TV news stations. And a pawnshop owner watching the news reported that he had just gotten a flute from a homeless couple who were looking for some money for it.

Police recovered the flute and returned it to Rabin, who said he will constantly keep it with him now.

“Oh my gosh, I will never lose it every again, I will probably handcuff it to me,” Rabin laughed.

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