Evan's teddy bear, Tag, has been a staple in our lives since Evan was just a few months old. Nothing can give me such a sense of relief or panic as that bear. It is ratty, it is old, but holding him will calm Evan in a matter of seconds. Life without Tag, is, well, horrific. There was the time we lost tag for a matter of days. Luckily we found him again...in a stranger's yard...under a picnic table. I've thought about stitching our name and phone number onto Tag in the event we ever lose him again, but I'm sure Evan would just walk around picking at the tag saying, "Uh-oh, Mommy. Uh-oh," until I took it off. We rarely let Evan take Tag out of the house, but there was no way I was enduring our recent 12-hour travel days (layovers...yuck) to and from Utah without Tag. Then...my worst fear almost came true...almost...
We've been working on potty training with Evan. There are certain times he will insist on using the actual potty. They are a) if we are running late, b) if it is time for bed, and c) if we are in the Chicago O'Hare airport. During our trip we were about to board in Chicago when Evan started chanting, "Potty, now. Potty now." I reluctantly took him to the bathroom, which was the equivalent of Disney World for Evan. I'll spare you the details, but they involved some splashing in the toilet bowl and lots of toilet paper.
While trying to contain Evan and get him focused on the business at hand, I must have sat Tag up on a purse holder in the stall. I was eager to get out of the stall and to our flight as quick as possible, so I rushed out and started putting a diaper on Evan. We were getting ready to wash our hands when a woman, who I would guess was in her 60s, came running out of the stall.
"Is this your bear?" I looked up at her. She was holding Tag. I hadn't even realized he wasn't with us.
"Oh my gosh, yes. I can't believe I left him in there...oh my gosh..." I stammered on and on about how much Evan loves the bear and how horrible it would have been. She held her hand up to stop my rambling.
"I left one in a rest area in Pennsylvania once. The whole state heard about it."
Oh--the bonds of motherhood. She knew exactly what I was going through and knew how horrible the rest of my day (week, month, year...) would be without that ratty old bear. Thank you, thank you, thank you whoever you are for caring enough to bring Tag back to us.
1 comment:
Oh I hear you! Megan had "silkie". It was actually a pink bed spread from Kendra's Barbie Dream house, but it got left in the car before we flew to Canada. We bought a replacement silkie in Canada, blue with red maple leaves on it. She loved the new one and carried it for years. I actually had to have it mailed back to us from a motel in Bringham City when they found it in the sheets!! We still have a semi untattered piece in the cedar chest!!
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