Crisis Averted

For a while this post was going to be titled "In memoriam..." But, we were blessed with a miracle on Wednesday.

Let's start from the beginning -- Sophie has had Gerry the Giraffe since she was 6 months old. He accompanies her pretty much everywhere. Every day before her nap, Sophie says "I need Gerry to sleep." And a night spent without Gerry is very difficult.

Monday, Sophie, Graham, and I took Jenna to the airport so she could fly back to Texas. I honestly don't remember Gerry making it into the car. But then again, I now have my eyes on two kids, and Gerry has drifted down my checklist. On our way home from the airport, we made a quick stop at Target. Again, I don't remember seeing Gerry in the car or in the Target cart, so at this point I don't realize that we're missing anything.

Fast forward to bedtime on Monday -- Gerry is missing. I can't find him anywhere. He's not in the house, and Allen took the car out to the Apple store to look at the new iPad. Surely, Gerry's in the car, so I tell Sophie that Gerry took a ride with daddy and we'll bring him in to her room once daddy gets back. She happily goes to sleep with only Eunice, the unicorn, in hand.

Well, Allen gets home and there's no Gerry, and we both are quite alarmed. We look everywhere, turning the house and car inside out.... where could he be? The only good thing about this predicament is that it kept us preoccupied until the Duke-Butler game came on, and it kept me pretty much distracted throughout the game, which certainly helped with my game-time anxiety.

By the time the buzzer sounds and Duke prevails, we've decided Gerry is likely gone forever. The only place left to look is Target's lost and found, but we're pretty much sure that we need to find a Gerry II, just in case.

After locating a replacement on Amazon, we decide that Allen would stop by Target on Wednesday as a last ditch effort. And, guess what.... Gerry is there. Some wonderful person turned our Gerry into the lost and found. So, with his limp neck and all, Gerry returned home. Sophie was beyond ecstatic. She quickly grabbed Gerry from Allen, gave him hugs and kisses, told him how much she missed him, and reunited Gerry with Eunice, who also gave Gerry kisses. It was very sweet and cute. So -- crisis averted. And, now either Gerry will no longer join us in the car, or he will be checked off my mental list right behind Sophie and Graham for the duration of his little giraffe life...

FYI - Gerry received a much needed bath after his two night stay in Target. And, for the record, I think this incident affected Allen and me much more than Sophie. She actually took the news that he was missing pretty well and was fully prepared to embrace "new Gerry." But, Allen and I are so happy that the original Gerry is back home, he really has become a part of our family.