My in-laws came this morning to pick up the prince, as they customarily do on a Sunday; and my mother-in-law had a canister with a fine powder in it and asked if we had any interest in some cornmeal, to which I said "Um, probably?" and she headed back to ask Himself; and my father-in-law handed me a tupperware container and said "Happy Mother's Day," and what was in it was a bib we lost five and a half years ago. We got a set of three as a gift when he was born: one dark with guitars, one I can't actually remember but the photographic record tells me dark with animals (elephant, giraffe, hippo, bird); and one light with owls, my favorite, the cutest one, which disappeared some time that fall.

They didn't have it at day care; the in-laws didn't have it in their house; I tore our house apart and couldn't find it. We concluded we must have dropped it at some point on the way back from a road trip we'd taken when our friends renewed their wedding vows (because one of them was terminally ill), so it was somewhere on the ground along the New York Thruway or something, alas, never see it again. I tracked down the Etsy seller, who was on a break (and in fact seems to have stopped Etsying; after a while I stopped checking), and I tracked down the fabric and bought a yard of it so I could re-create the thing myself—not that I ever have done, because I could probably manage the sewing but I was intimidated by the snaps, but I could, and somehow that was enough. The kid has been out of bibs for more than twice as long as he was ever in them, of course, but every year or so I'd catch myself thinking "I ought to sew up that fabric" and never did.

IT IS BACK. It was in their car apparently this whole time. In the armrest console compartment, which apparently they never use. I cannot describe how delighted I am. (My mother-in-law said "Meh, she's going to give it to the Goodwill, what's the point," and my father-in-law said "No, she's a sentimental softie, she'll want to see it again," and he was right!, and I am so pleased right now.) (I mean I'm also pleased that in fact I didn't lose it out the back of the car at a highway rest stop. But mostly I'm pleased that I've got it.)