Lost & found

We spent the evening at Lagoon last night. Usually a fun time for everyone, but last night tragedy struck. Unbeknownst to me, Haley took her itouch along with her. She put it in a ziploc bag (in case she got wet on any rides) along with her Lagoon pass and about $7 and slipped it all in her pocket. She went on a couple of rides with her friend and then came and found me, absolutely sobbing. The bag had fallen out and was gone. We hurried to lost & found, where we discovered that the ziploc had been turned in with everything minus the itouch. Of course. Haley let out the saddest sob. We sat down and let her cry on my shoulder for awhile. I told her other sad stories of my stuff getting stolen and we talked about how, sadly, you have to be so cautious with valuables these days. She turned angry and said, "Let's stop everyone at the gate and search them! How could someone do this to me? They must have a black hole for a heart!" She'd become so jaded in just a few minutes. But how could she not?

We stayed at Lagoon (even though she begged to go and swore that she'd never return to that "evil place!") and checked back at lost & found at the end of the night, with no luck. She cursed herself for bringing her ipod in the first place and cried herself to sleep.

Mike and I talked about it that night. Should we just buy her a new one? We both knew the answer was no. It was a painful lesson for her but an important one. By morning, she was counting her money and deciding to save all summer to buy another one. Paige & Elle planned a lemonade stand with her to raise some cash. The little sisters took the loss almost as hard as Haley did.

Then the phone rang. Caller i.d. said it was Lagoon calling. Could it be?? Sure enough ... someone turned her ipod in and it was unharmed. (Cue sunlight streaming down on Haley and heavenly choirs singing 'Hallelujah' as she beamed from ear to ear.) Major happy ending to a sad and painful lesson. She's been reconnected with her ipod and all is happy with the world. I'm happy, though, that she had the experience. She'll never forget it and will be more careful (and appreciative) as a result. That's how life goes, isn't it?