Day 251 - What Was Lost Has Been Found (x2)

Almost home from some errands after the derby, we heard a gasp from the back seat when Cory said in a panicked sort of voice, "Oh no! Sneezy got out!"

He'd neglected to fasten his cage properly, and he climbed right out at some point on the way home.

When we pulled into the driveway, that started an hour-long episode of tearing the van completely apart to find this tiny little teddybear hamster that could be anywhere.

He wasn't under the seats, he hadn't climbed up into the chairs themselves, he wasn't in the side door pockets, he hadn't climbed into the frame that was open in the back from last weekend's boating, he wasn't in the console between the front seats. He was nowhere to be found.

So, Jo called Home Depot — one of the errand stops — to see if they'd gotten a report of a hamster running around the parking lot.

No such luck, but I'm sure the Home Depot crew got a good laugh.

When she'd reached the end of her wits and had pretty much decided to take the van to the dealer and have them tear it apart further, she pulled open the least-likely drawer under the stereo in the front dash.

There he was, sleeping soundly on his back, disturbed that someone had the audacity to open that drawer and shed light on his beady little eyes.

Needless to say, everyone was relieved. Cory too, but mostly Mommy.

And now that the van was torn apart, Mommy saw fit to give Cory the job of vacuuming out the collected kid-crap that was everywhere, as penance for his irresponsibility.

Cory loved that. NOT.

Turns out this whole thing happened for a good cosmic reason.

I'd lost my wedding ring on the cabin trip a few weeks ago, and it still hadn't turned up anywhere.

Well, it turned up today, in a cup holder in the back of the van.

Remember that day Jo let me out at Itasca State Park and I biked back? Yeah, I changed in the back of the van, took my ring off, and instead of putting it in my shorts pocket like I usually do, I dropped it in the cup holder.

So one hamster lost, two items found.