Drama, drama, drama

***Disclaimer: I would like to blame the following occurrence completely on the fact that I had a terrible cold and was doped up on cold medicine.

On December 30th, we had plans to go out to G-ville to celebrate my sister's birthday. Her birthday is actually on New Year's Eve, but it worked out better for everyone to celebrate the day before. The initial plan was to go to a movie and then dinner. Well, I didn't sleep well the night before and woke up sick and miserable. Nic was such a sweetheart. He took care of Mark during the middle of the night so that I could get some sleep and then, in the morning, he took Sam to his parent's house so that I could get some more rest. Basically, the whole family has been swapping germs back and forth for a month, and it was now mommy's turn to be sick. I think we have all had two or three rounds of being sick.

Well, Mark and I just chilled in bed all day. Mark was a good baby and was content to just hang out while I slept. Finally around noon, I dragged myself out of bed and took a shower. We were struggling to get ready, so I called Nanny and told her we weren't going to make it to the movie but that we would be there for dinner.

Once Mark and I were ready for the day, around 4 p.m., we decided to run to the mall to buy a present for Nanny's birthday. There was this perfect Nanny hat that I had seen earlier, so I figured it would be easy enough to just run in and pick it up. We were planning on spending the night in G-ville, so that meant we had Gus in tow with us. I didn't think it would be a big deal to leave Gus out in the car while we ran into the mall, because I knew exactly where I was going and was only planning on being gone for 15 minutes tops.

I put Mark into a baby front carrier pack, bundled him up in a blanket, and we made our way into the mall. Because I have a tendency to forget where I've parked at the mall, I usually try to park in the same area, and I made a special point to take note of where we came in. We went directly to the store with the hat, bought the hat, and then made our way back to the car. By this time, my cold medicine was starting to wear down, and I was starting to wear down. Mark was done with being in the carrier so I was just carrying him wrapped up in his blanket. We went out to the parking lot and headed to where I thought my car was. No car. Strange. Maybe it was in the next aisle. We checked the next aisle and the next. We went up and down five aisles. No car. We backtracked and did it again. No car. We looked again. No car. At this point, I was exhausted and panicked. Where was my car? I saw what I thought was the truck that I had parked next to, but the stall next to the truck was empty. I began to panic that my car had been stolen. I am known for forgetting to lock my doors, and suddenly I was having visions of some punk kids just jumping in and taking my car for a joy ride. We backtracked one more time with no success. I called Nic in hysterics. My car had been stolen with Gus in tow.

Nic had been on his way to pick up Sam to bring out to G-ville for dinner, so he was close. He said he was heading my way and to call the police to begin filing a report. I called the police and told them that I thought my car had been stolen from the mall. They said they would send an officer. Then I waited in the food court. I was a complete wreck! I was holding Mark (who was super cute and smiling adorably at me) and bawling. I kept thinking of all the horrible things that could happen to Gus and it would be all my fault for being an irresponsible doggy mom. I must have been quite the picture of tragedy. A few nice people stopped to ask me if I was okay and if they could do anything to help me. They were so concerned and so nice! I wish there was some way that I could contact them! We waited for a little bit and then Nic finally arrived. He gave me a big hug and told me everything would be okay. We were both ready to beat up any punk kid we came in contact with that may or may not have stolen our dog. Nic made sure I was okay and then left to drive around to see if the car had been ditched somewhere. I could also see a police car driving up and down the aisles in the parking lot. So then I waited some more. I called my family, who were all in the movie, and left a message to call me. And I waited and waited and waited.

After what seemed like forever, Nic called me. "Go out of the food court and go out the door right next to the food court," he told me. The car was parked right where I left it, in the parking lot right next to where I was, complete with one big dog in the back wondering where on earth we had gone. I called the police and let them know that we had found my car and that there was no longer an emergency. And then I bawled in relief.

Was it extremely embarrassing? Yes. But mostly, I was relieved that all was well, that my sweet Gus was okay, and that there weren't hoodlums out stealing cars from poor mothers at the mall. And this experience taught me to be a little more responsible and to appreciate my super-hero husband who takes care of me when I'm sick and when I'm crazy!