Before I began with my story, I need to give you a little bit of background. My son, Dalton, whom some of you know a lot about, has a toy Buzz Lightyear that he has had ever since he was 2 years old. (At the time this took place, Dalton was almost 7.) Buzz is approximately 6" tall and has a soft body. He is also Dalton's best pal and goes everywhere with Dalton. When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. Buzz is to Dalton the way Woody is to Andy in Toy Story. So on with my story.
On October 18, 2008, two of my grandsons spent the night with me and my kids. Before leaving the next day, Blake (7-year-old grandson) asked if he could clean Dalton's room by himself. The boys, all three of them, know my policy is Dalton's bedroom is always to be cleaned, by all three of them, before they leave. But Blake insisted he wanted to clean it by himself, so I let him. He really did do a great job and I bragged on him, of course!
At bedtime that night, Dalton couldn't find Buzz. He asked me if I knew where Buzz was, and I told him to look in his bedroom. Dalton said he did but he couldn't find Buzz. So I went to look for Buzz. I looked in all of Dalton's plastic baskets (tubs), dumped them out, but still couldn't find Buzz. Dalton has two baskets that he puts toys in. I am very obsessive-compulsive and these baskets have specific toys that go in specific baskets. One basket is about 8" deep and the "soft" toys go in it and the other basket is a little bit bigger and the hard plastic toys go in it. Both baskets have factory holes in them. But since Blake cleaned the room, it didn't necessarily mean the same toys got put in the same baskets.
I couldn't find Buzz anywhere in Dalton's bedroom. I even looked in Dalton's dresser drawers; under Dalton's bed; in the closet, just in case because you never can tell where things end up when kids clean up, you know?
I looked all over the Living Room, took cushions out of the furniture, tipped the furniture over, etc. Even looked in my bedroom, but I still couldn't find Buzz. Dalton cried that night because Buzz was lost. (I felt like we were living "Toy Story.") This is the "toy" Dalton sleeps with every night. I told Dalton we would look again the next day. I had even called and asked Blake if he remembered where he put Buzz when he cleaned Dalton's room, but Blake said he didn't even know what Buzz looked like!? I thought, "are you serious?!" I even went outside and looked in my truck, knowing Buzz wasn't out there because we hadn't left the house. But I had to look because Buzz was nowhere to be found inside the house.
Anyway, the next night I looked again: same places as before, even dumped out the baskets in Dalton's room again; dresser drawers; under Dalton's bed; tipped over the furniture again, my bedroom, same whole routine. Still no Buzz. Again, Dalton cried because Buzz was lost and lonely. Dalton asked me if I would buy him another Buzz, so I looked on eBay but couldn't find one who looked exactly like the one Dalton had. And I had explicit instructions that the new Buzz had to look just like the other Buzz.
Friday morning, 6 long days later, as we were getting ready for school and work, Dalton came out of his room with his hands behind his back and asked me to guess what he had. I took a couple of guesses because this is a regular game he and I play, "a kangaroo...nope, a truck...nope, an ostrich...nope", not only was I wrong but I was completely shocked when Dalton pulled Buzz out from behind his back. I couldn't believe it!
Dalton was so happy (so was I!) When I asked where he found Buzz, Dalton said "on top of my basket." I was really happy but also very confused. I knew I had looked in everything in Dalton's room, not just once but it ended up being three times between Sunday and Thursday night. Buzz WAS NOT in there. Anywhere.
I asked my daughter Jerrica if she had found Buzz and put him in there as a surprise, but she said Dalton just went into his room and then came right back out with Buzz in his hand. She said Dalton didn't have time to search for Buzz, which validates what Dalton said.
When we came home that evening, I asked Dalton to show me which basket Buzz was in. Even though I knew it was impossible, it still freaked me out when Dalton showed me which basket. This is the basket that the smaller soft toys get put in. This was also the first basket I looked in. The basket is small enough that there is no way Buzz wouldn't have been seen, even if he'd been on the bottom of the basket. Not only that, but I had dumped that basket out three different times. You know how you do it, just in case you somehow "overlook" something? I just thanked whoever found Buzz and put him there for Dalton to find.
At this time, I didn't realize it was Mary. This took place two months before she opened the door for Dalton. But there is not a doubt in my mind that Mary is the one who found Buzz for Dalton. After we found out about Mary, and began to have more interaction with her, I had Dalton thank her for finding Buzz for him. I felt it was only right.
In case you didn't read my first story about Mary, we learned while living in her home that she had died there. I was recently told by a friend that Mary loved her home and spent most of her time in the kitchen. Jerrica and I both had experiences in the kitchen. We were very lucky and very fortunate that Mary let us share her house with her.
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