Confession

Many years ago, when Adam and Noah looked like the little boys up there, a funny thing happened.  It's a story that I've told many time since, but I never did blogged about for some reason.

Occasionally I get into junk-purging frenzies, in which I remove as many things as I possibly can from the house in order to decrease the amount of junk I have to tend to ever day and to increase my sanity.

Just a few days before Noah's first birthday, as I was enjoying such a purging, a little stuffed Angry Bird went into the donation bag and out of the house forever.  

Adam hadn't played with it in years, it was forgotten in the basement, and no one in our house has any kind of affinity toward Angry Birds.  It was a goner.

Or so I thought. 

Out of the blue a day or two later- after I dropped the bag off at Goodwill- little five-year-old Adam told me that he wanted to give his stuffed Angry Bird to Noah for his birthday. 

He asked me where it was.

I said I didn't know (truth). 

He looked all over the house but couldn't find it and was just heartbroken that he wouldn't be able to give his baby brother a birthday present.

So during preschool the next day, I drove over to Goodwill and asked if there was any chance that the bird might be located again.  They let me check through the (huge, nasty, that's what happens to your donations?!) bin of stuffed animals, but the bird was nowhere to be found.  

I only had one choice left.  

I reordered the darn thing from Amazon. 

I've heard many times that a good purging rule of thumb is that if you can replace something within 20 minutes for less than $20, it isn't worth keeping around your house 'just in case'. 

But still!  It pained me just a bit to pay $10 for something I didn't want in the house in the first place!

The package didn't arrive in time for Noah's birthday, but the day after, there was a knock at the door. 

I had been hoping to sneak the new bird into the basement, but whichever child brought the package into the house squeezed it in just the right place and it let out the all-too-familiar "hoo-hoo-hee-hee" laugh of the lost Angry Bird. 

Adam was thrilled!  

We ripped open the package and there was his bird, miraculously back in his hands and begging for an explanation as to it's whereabouts.

So I pulled out the packing slip and read (since he couldn't yet), 

"Dear... Neighbor...  I found this bird on the sidewalk and knew it was yours..... So I put it into the mailbox and mailed it back to you.....  From... your neighbor."

And Adam was thrilled!  And he immediately handed it over to Noah, who promptly crawled up to Adam and bopped him on the head with it.

Looking back on the story now, I don't know why I didn't just tell Adam that the bird was gone and move on with life.  But it's made for a great cautionary tale and reminder for any future purging frenzies!  You never know what will come back to haunt you in the future.  

And yes, Angry Bird 2.0 is now sitting down in the basement, forgotten again and just waiting to be purged, as well.  I just haven't been quite as quick to get rid of this one!