Sam has a Pooh Bear that is very sacred to him. And by sacred, I mean
goes everywhere with us, stinks to high Heaven because he chews on it, I cannot imagine what a crisis it would be if we lost that bear. Matters of national security would probably take a back seat (at least in my mind) if "Boo" were to go missing. Sam sleeps with him. He sits at the table with us when we eat. (Sometimes, if a certain little boy is being picky about his food, Boo has a bite or two to get everyone else interested in their food.) He runs errands with us during the day. He has seen us through some pretty scary times, including doctors' appointments and our visit with Santa this year.
One day last week, Ms. Tammy texted me at work and asked if she could just drop Sam off to me a few minutes before closing time. Her grandson was in a play at his elementary school and that was the only way she could make it on time. I'm always willing to go with this plan, because it shaves off about 30 minutes of our evening. I excitedly let Shawn know we would be home a little bit earlier than normal and began planning how we would use our extra play time that night.
I should have known better.
As we were leaving the clinic, Sam started to get a little whiny so I went to his bag to get Pooh out. And HOLD THE PHONE, STOP THE PRESSES--POOH WASN'T THERE!!! I immediately tried to call Ms. Tammy, thinking maybe...JUST MAYBE...he was still in her car. But she had already turned her phone off for the play. I sat there contemplating our options:
1) Go home and try a night without Pooh.
2) Wait around until after the play and try to find Pooh.
After a very brief analysis, we decided the wait option was the only way to go. I took off to the school, still hoping that the bear was just in the car and it would be an easy retrieval. I drove to the elementary school and pulled into the parking lot. Hmmm...that's strange. You'd think if they were having a play, there would be some cars here. Then, remembering which side of town her grandkids live on, I decided to check the other elementary school. Just a few minutes later, I was again sitting in an empty parking lot...the only car there. Confused and perplexed, I called my coworker (aka, my source of information about anything Irvine-related).
"Where in the world is this silly play?" I demanded.
"What play?" she replied.
"Tammy's grandson is in some kindergarten play, and I can't find it. And she has Pooh! I have to find that bear!"
Sensing my panic, she calmly gave me directions to yet another school where the play was most likely being held. And then, as I was driving down the street, I noticed a man mowing his yard. And his boxer dog was riding on the hood of his lawn mower---almost like an 80 pound hood ornament.
I am not making this up.
It was at this point that I became convinced that Pooh was not, in fact, missing. Rather, I was having a stroke. I voiced my concerns to Amanda, who was still on the phone talking me down from my panic attack, and she just laughed saying, "I know exactly where you are! Yeah...that guy's dog just likes riding the lawn mower with him. Every time he mows he rides up there."
We finally made it to the school and I spotted Tammy's vehicle. I parked behind it and peeked inside. No bear. As I sat in the parking lot wondering how much of a stalker I would look like if I just went inside to find her, people started flooding out of the school. Thank the Lord for kindergartners and their short attention spans!!!
In the end, Tammy realized that she had left Pooh at her house, and we made a hasty retrieval before heading home. Instead of getting home 30 minutes earlier than anticipated, we got home an hour later than usual, but it was so worth it when bedtime came.
Then, this weekend while out picking up a few random things, Shawn spotted a Pooh bear that was almost exactly identical to ours. So we bought two more. We left the store patting ourselves on the back for our brilliance.
That night, Sam insisted on sleeping with all of the Poohs. Awesome.
