Lost and Found

About six months ago we joined the Toy Library here in Levin. I have found it to be a pretty good service. There is a great selection of toys and the price to hire is pretty reasonable (although I'm told the toy library in Palmerston North is even better but too far away for us to really use).

We've had some great toys out of the library. My favourites would be the indoor slide which we just couldn't keep Victoria off of, and the Candyland board game which we enjoyed so much we ended up buying our own copy.

Quite often we will get Little People toys because they are so simple yet so detailed. We've had the Little People Farm, Little People Main Street, Little People Noah's Ark, and currently Little People Circus.

Back in April we got out a Mega Bloks fairytale set with King, Queen, Princess and glittery carriage. Both girls fell in love with the princess doll and played with her all the time. Victoria even slept with her a couple of times because she wouldn't let it go.

However, when it came time to return the toy, the princess was nowhere to be found. We searched high and low, all over the house. I felt so guilty because, really, the toy was boring without the princess doll. The king and queen must have been from a different set because they weren't particularly cool.

Peter returned the toy and paid the lost toy fee (which he told me was $30 but was actually $3). But I still felt really guilty, to the point where I watched Trade Me auctions to see if I could buy a replacement (only saw a couple which I lost the auctions on).

I've always had it in the back of my mind, wondering what had happened to her. Best guess was that it had been taken into the car (even though I've always been careful not to let them take library toys out of the house), and that it had fallen out somehow. Or that it had accidentally been put down on the bench and fallen into the rubbish bin.

However. A couple of weeks ago Peter and I went out for the evening. I put on my nice clothes that I hardly ever wear. And my nice black shoes, which had been sitting in a box for months. And out fell the princess!!! She was hidden inside a shoe, inside a box, in our bedroom, for all this time. I have no idea how she got there, other than a child put her there. What a great feeling of relief it was to finally find her and to set my mind at ease as to what had happened to her.

I was very happy the next time we went to the toy library, to be able to return the princess and wipe my conscience clean.



-Megz