It was 101 degrees in Portland today. I don't like being hot. Our house has one room that is air-conditioned and it gets boring in there after a while, so we went today on a search for cool air. We ended up at Lloyd Center, the mall I really dislike. It's almost as cold as Trader Joe's though, and there's more to do there and we still have gift cards from Abe's baby shower to spend. So off to the mall we went. Everything was okay until I discovered that my wallet was missing. This never used to happen when I was child-less. I was much better at remembering things, not letting important items fall out of bags or get stolen. I tried not to freak out, which lasted about three minutes, long enough for security to get there to take an official report. I scoured the pet store we'd been in, admiring the kitties and bunnies. I went back to the place I'd bought soap, along with the security guy, to ask about my wallet. No wallet. As we walked back to the pet store, the security guy asked every cell-phone/cheap jewelry vendor in the place if they'd found a wallet.
I got advice on making sure to cancel all my cards (duh!) and filing a report with the police. Oh man. I got the phone number of security so I could call later after the joint had closed to see if housekeeping had found it. While all this was going on, Abe was getting antsy. He'd been getting squirmy in the pet store, ready to be free of his stroller constraints. I'd discovered that the wallet was missing as we were leaving the mall. Abe was getting sick of all this to-do and was letting me and everyone else know about it.
I remembered one store we'd been in where Abe had been holding my bag. I thought to myself, "What would Ted do?" He's the most patient man I know and would scour the floors of this store until he'd exhausted all hope of finding the missing wallet. I decided to have mercy on Abe while I searched, so I pulled him out of his stroller-prison and distractedly placed him on my hip as I went on my search.
And here's what Abe did, a thing I so love about this boy: amidst the crowd and chaos and loud music of this store, he deliberately placed both his hands on either side of my face. He said, "Mom!" And then he came in for the kiss, square on my mouth. Several people around us stopped to remark, "Awwww..."
Yeah, I love that boy.
With my inspiration of WWTD (What Would Ted Do?) and that kiss from Abe, I set off with new determination to patiently retrace my steps. About thirty seconds later, I found my wallet, just laying there in the middle of the aisle. I shouted hallelujah and complimented a woman on her owl shirt on the way out. I called later tonight the head of security to tell him to give Mr. Jason Nix, the security guard who helped me, a big fat raise for being so awesome.
Tomorrow it's supposed to be 102 degrees. We're staying away from the mall.
