The “THANK YOU” that no one heard…
Now that we have kids, we all know how attached our little ones can become to a specific object. So attached in fact, that absolutely NO substitutes will do. This is the story of one such object…
Last Saturday, we brought our 3 year old fashionista shopping for a new pair of rainboots. Her requirements were rather specific: They had to either be ladybug boots or pink (her favorite color this month) with swirlies or cute designs. Okay…duly noted. With that in mind, my husband and I thought it best to take her shopping downtown where there is obviously more shopping options.I
t was a cold spring day and there were a few flurries mixed with rain. My daughter insisted on bringing her sidekick: A small doll, she appropriately named “Baby.” This doll goes everywhere that our daughter goes. We toured Europe all last summer and Baby tagged along. We visit friends and Baby comes along too. The morning commute to daycare? You guessed it, Baby joins for the ride. So it was only natural that Baby accompany us on this particular shopping trip.
As we walked briskly through the downtown streets, my daughter asked that I carry her since it was cold and slippy. I held her tightly in my arms and tucked her into my jacket. She had Baby firmly in her grasp. We finally entered a mall, then a few street stores, another mall and then back down the city streets to our car. As I secured my daughter into her carseat, she asked the question that was about to send our weekend into turmoil… “Mama, where is Baby?” “What do you mean where is Baby?” “I don’t have her Mama, so you must have her.” “Uh…no sweetie, you were carrying her.” Then the waterworks began, mass hysteria set in and it was clear that Baby had been lost. We retraced our steps, we spoke to the mall Lost & Found departments, but no sign of Baby anywhere. The drive home was a dreaded one. My daughter sobbed unconsoleably the whole ride home. My husband and I felt her pain and sadness. She was sooo attached to Baby. I contemplated going to the store to try to find a similar doll and mentioned it to her. Bad idea, mom! Bad idea! “Mama, she cried, it’s not the same, it just won’t be the same!!!” And she was right. Even bedtime was difficult. Sleeping without Baby was unthinkable. None of her other 5 dolls or 20+ stuffed animals could step in and take the place of Baby.
The next morning, my husband and I talked it over and he said that he was going back downtown to comb the streets and malls one more time. Although we knew it was fruitless, it seemed like the only thing left to do. I mean how had this baby travelled around the globe, been through countless airports, sat alongside us on flight after flight, and never been lost until now? It seemed inconceivable. So we had to do this. My husband left the house at 6:00 am on Sunday so that our daughter wouldn’t know. We simply didn’t want to run the risk of getting her hopes up…
The morning played out as a typical weekend one. The kids woke up a little later, ie: 7:00 am. Then I gave them their bath and while I was washing my daughter’s hair, I heard the front door open and my husband thump up the stairs. He walked into the bathroom, still wearing his jacket. My daughter, still sad over her missing Baby was not in good spirits. Still she asked “Where were you Papa?” And then… out from his jacket came Baby. We all began to cry and squeal with joy and laughter. It was actually somewhat of a miracle. At least it was in our house. I looked at my husband in absolute disbelief. “How? How? How?, I asked.”
He began to tell us the story… He walked up and down the streets and then just when he had given up hope, something made him look up, instead of down and there was Baby. Someone had place her on a brick ledge under a radiator so that she was out of the mud and sheltered from the rain and snow.
For us, this event proved to be more than just the story of a missing doll, but it was our mini miracle. It was our reminder that even the impossible, can be possible. Just when you think there is no more hope, hope arrives…you just have to look a bit harder sometimes to see it.
So THANK YOU kind stranger for not only giving our daughter her doll back, but for giving us so much more… This is the THANK YOU that I wish you could hear.
WOW! Glad baby is back.