Lost ... and Not Found

After the July 4 monsoon, Pete's soaked sneakers STUNK like you can't imagine. We tried everything to rid them of the stench, but to no avail. I had planned to buy him new sneakers before school anyhow, so I figured I'd just get them a couple of months early. So, in mid-July, I spent $50 on a pair of Nike sneakers that he loved. He wore them every day at camp for four solid weeks and then came home on the last day of camp with exactly one sneaker—and no CamelBak water bottle. (He had changed into his flip-flops for swimming and plunked the sneakers into his backpack.) On the following Monday I drove him to the camp to pick through the Lost & Found bin, but we were out of luck.

So yesterday we went to Modell's and found that the same beloved sneakers were on sale for $35! That certainly softened the blow a bit. But wait, when we got to the register, they rang up at $20! Even better! I told Pete that if he loses the right one again, he can learn to wear two left-foot sneakers.

I'd have preferred it if he'd lost the whole pair. At least then I could imagine that someone found them and donated them somewhere so that some poor child could have an almost-brand-new pair of sneakers. This way, we each have one. And no way am I throwing away that lone sneaker—I'm convinced that the minute I do, the other one will miraculously turn up.

As for the CamelBak, it's gone. I'm really trying my darnedest to never buy disposable water bottles again, and we were doing great up until now. Sigh.

Comments

[Naomi]

Maybe the missing sneaker will have been donated to an organization that provides shoes for amputees?

(I seem to be more tactless than usual tonight.)

[Mark]

$50 (First pair) - $25 (one lost shoe) + $20 (new pair) = $45!

Check my math, but I think you actually made $5 off of this!

[Margaret]

My younger daughter has a water bottle like that, although not pink! She loses or ruins lots of stuff, so I'm glad that she now doesn't care where we buy things. I don't worry so much about losing a shirt that cost $5 versus one that was $30.

[Sharon]

We lost a lot of items at camp this year. I guess I shouldn't be so hard on my son since he's only 7. He has touble keeping track of so much stuff. He lost both sneakers, two towels, two reusable water bottles and his soccer shin guards. We too picked through the lost and found (yuck, lots of damp towels) and were able to recover the sneakers and shin guards, so not too bad. We also found one of his shirts that I didn't even know was missing!