Green Blankie and Cathedral Park: A late Night Adventure

   We didn’t notice it was gone until bedtime. It had been a busy, running around kind of day. It was a rare Saturday that husband had to work. Number three was going to respite. Myself, number 1, and number 2 were splitting our day between grandparents.

   Green blankie was missing. One cannot even really call it green anymore. It once was a light soft green but years of love have turned it more to an ashy gray. A classic Winnie the Pooh and Piglit adorn the bottom of the blanket. Number 2 knows every inch of the blankie by heart. He has a special “pocket” where he likes to slip two of his little fingers in. He likes to have the “pokey” side wrapped around his body so he can wear green blankie as a cape. Many times he refuses to use a towel as he prefers blankie to dry himself off with. Green blankie is his safety, his friend, his comfort.

   How the hell could we have lost it?

   We searched the house, we searched the cars, we called the grandparents. No one had it. No one really remembered where they had seen it last. Blankie was such a familiar sight, such a part of number 2 that it doesn’t really stick out in memory. It’s just there.

I    called the restaurant where we had lunch and waited on hold for 20 minutes while they searched for it. It was not there. Where could it be?

   The last place we had been that night before going home was Cathedral park to see “Trek in the Park”. Cathedral park is a good 30-40 minute drive away. It was really the only place it could be. Maybe it had fallen out of a bag. Maybe number 2 had dropped it while running around. Did it even go to the park with us?

   I tried getting number 2 to bed without green blankie. He cried and twisted around, calling out for his blankie. I laid next to him crying too, feeling like a failure of a parent for not paying enough attention. How could I have let this happen?

   No, NO! I will not go down with a fight.  We don’t leave a man behind in this family and green blankie is family. Number 2 and I grabbed two little tiny flashlights (we really need to get new batteries for the normal size flashlights) and got into the car. We were on an adventure to save green blankie.

   With me in my snowflake jammies and number 2 clutching his small orange flashlight, we head out to Cathedral park. We picked my mom, Bubbie up for reinforcement and began our journey. We winded our way through the black, back roads of Forest Park to reach our destination. Number 2 feel asleep shortly after picking up Bubbie.

   I am thankful that I had an extra adult with me once we finally reached Cathedral Park. It is no means in a “bad” part of town but being a female in snowflake pajamas in a park in Portland at 11pm is slightly…uncomfortable.

   The first scan of an area we played in turned up nothing. I was near tears, fearful that our brave adventure would turn out to be a big flop. Determined to not lose hope, I continued on to the next area of the park we played.

   “please, God, please, God” played over and over again in my head as I headed up a hill. In the distance I saw a pale pile. “Oh God, please”. The closer I got the faster my prayer became. I reached down and touched it and cried out with delight. Green blankie! I had found green blankie!

   I gave the slightly damp green blankie to a sleeping number 2 who barely acknowledged its presence. I figured by the morning he would realize he had it back and award me with millions of kisses (wrong). I was a hero. I did not give up. We did not leave a man behind. And hopefully, I earned a bazillion brownie points with my number 2.

   The moral of the story? Don’t lose an important member of the family! I have plans of attaching a tag to green blankie that has our phone number and a reward for its safe return. Never again….