Reunited (and it feels so good)!

Let me set the stage: Since Millie was about 3 years old her stuffed dog, Molly, has been a very important part of her life.  Molly went everywhere with Millie and was a constant companion at bedtime.  Over the last couple of years Molly still traveled with us and was a close friend, but the friendship was starting to wain.  Some nights Molly was left to fend for herself while Millie snuggled in bed.  I assumed that Millie was outgrowing Molly and the keepsake box would be her new home!  That changed about 3 months ago when we went on our last camping trip of the season.  It was about a week after returning home that Millie started complaining that she couldn't find Molly.  It is with a heavy heart that I admit that I didn't give the initial complaints much thought.  The girls love to stick prized possessions into various bags and boxes around the house and I callously told Millie that she would "turn up".  It was somewhere around two weeks that we started to realize that Molly might be somewhere other than "lost" in the house.  We began the tireless search through every box, bag, and container in the house, basement and garage.  We scoured the house from top to bottom and back to the top.  A special trip to the land/pop-up camper was taken just to search for Molly.   It was after this that we began to talk of the fact that Molly was gone.  I feared that she had fallen out of the car.  Millie feared that some wild animal dragged her away to their home...

The grief came later that week.  My mom was in town (thank goodness) and we were out for girls night when we noticed Millie's funk.  When I questioned her she broke down sobbing, saying that she missed Molly.  Please know that I am not being dramatic when I say it was like a death in the family.  Matt and I were scheming of ways we could replace her while my dad was plotting ways to buy one online and rough it up to pass as the original.  I had a breakdown myself...what do you do when you can't take the sadness away?!?!  As the time passed we all did our best to move on and remember Molly with fond memories.  We would occasionally think of new places to check, only to be disappointed again.

Flash forward 3 months and Matt has brought the camper home.  The gear we can live without was left packed, but important things like sleeping bags were brought inside.  Millie and Ruby talked Matt into letting them have a sleepover in the living room last weekend and they snuggled down in the sleeping bags (you know where this is going right?!?!).  Half-way through our movie Ruby starts rearranging her sleeping bag and notices a lump.  She reaches inside and pulls out Molly!  Millie was beside herself (me too).  It was like a dream come true!  Like the prodigal son, Molly had come home and we wept and rejoiced when we saw her!  Millie was so happy she cried tears of joy!  She didn't want to sleep that night for fear that she would, "wake up and realize that it was a dream and Molly would still be gone"!  Later she told us that she and Ruby would have to sleep downstairs again because, "miracles happen".

I realize that in the grand scheme of things, the loss of a stuffed animal and its return is small and seemingly petty, but this moment taught us some important things: 1. protect and care for the things we love 2. we can overcome loss - it takes time, but we can move through it and beyond it 2. moms and dads can't fix everything...we just try to guide and love and 4. most importantly every good thing comes from God and we rejoice with thanksgiving for even the smallest of miracles!

 A much hairier Molly with Ruby and Millie

 Reunited!

Millie, Molly and Ruby