Red Boots

My wife bought our 5 year old son C and 1 year old son L some matching red boots. They never wore it, but when there was snow, they both wore it outside. Our 7 year old daughter E was left out and got green boots. I guess it’s an accidental Christmas pairing.

After the snow, the next few days, L really loved his red boots. He wanted to wear them everywhere. I promised him we would go to Costco and sure enough, he wanted to wear his red boots. I knew he liked to take his shoes off, so I told him no. He whined about it, so I made him a deal - if he wore his red boots, he couldn’t take them off. He agreed and the red boots went on his feet.

When we got to Costco, L started to fidget with his red boots 10 minutes into the shopping trip. I told him to stop, which was futile. He started to take them off 15 minutes into the shopping trip and kept dropping his boots on the ground. I was navigating around all the people at Costco while picking up his red boots every few minutes. Eventually, I took the boots off his feet and put them next to him in the shopping cart.

After checking out and getting to the car, I quickly loaded up everything since a car was waiting in the packed parking lot for a spot. I rushed over to the shopping cart return area and then rushed back to the car. I then unloaded the car when I got back and realized I couldn’t find the red boots. L was asking for them and I searched all around in the car. Then I realized I must have left it in the shopping cart at Costco when I was in a rush!

I left L at home and went to find the red boots. I hadn’t left them for that long, but by the time I got back to Costco, the boots and shopping carts were not in the back area I left them at. Of all the times people do not take a shopping cart from the back of the parking lot to shop with, this was the time it happened. Some workers said they saw someone walk in with the cart and red boots, so I searched inside for them. No luck. Then I went back to ask lost and found. No luck. Went back outside to look. No luck.

Eventually, I left my name and number at the lost and found. I was hopeful they would call me. Through the fiasco, I missed dinner with the kids and didn’t come home with the boots. It was a sad time and I was mainly frustrated that I spent the time looking for the boots instead of letting it go. A week later, there was still no boots at the lost and found, so my assumption is that whoever took the red boots would put it to better use than we did. L would eventually grow out of them anyways, so next time he loses something, I will definitely not spend too much time looking unless it is something priceless. Learning to let go and allowing yourself to make mistakes as a tired and overburdened parent has been a lesson I still need to learn. I’ll learn it soon though and be at peace with the new normal.