The Most Memorable Thanksgiving...Almost.

If you happen to be driving through Seattle anytime soon and glance over to see a middle aged, tired and sickly looking man walking down the sidewalk, palm open, slapping himself in the middle of the forehead, chanting "Stoooopid, Stoooopid, Stoooopid!", just roll down the window and call out "Hi there, Seattledad!.

I awoke this holiday morning still suffering from a draining bout of Strep Throat, coupled with what I believe to be a separate virus still affecting my eyes. Despite the illnesses, the of the morning went off without much of a hitch. That is, until Mrs. LIAYF and I were in the final frenzied throws of getting ourselves and Lukas loaded into the car for our visit to the farm for Thanksgiving dinner.

You've been there, right? Leaving by a deadline, in order to coordinate a child napping on the ride, and still making it on time for you event. Well, things were going swimmingly but we were running a tad late. To make it into the car by our 11:30 deadline, we were piling things into our hands before rushing out the door.

As I was doing said piling, Mrs. LIAYF calls down to me"Honey, grab my wedding ring from above the sink". So I did. I also grabbed the keys, slung Lukas onto my hip, and also grabbed his coats in my hand as I scurried down the stairs. Then as I reached the car and fumbled for the keys, my mind in ten different places, I felt something slip in my grasped hand. What was it? As I set Lukas into the car seat I realized it.

The ring was GONE!

Was that what it was, or had I dropped it somewhere else? A quick scan of the area revealed nothing. Mrs. LIAYF arrived, and with my heart dropped somewhere below my stomach, closer to my bowels, I told her I had no idea where her ring was. We did not panic at that moment (in fact Mrs. LIAYF never did - she is a wonderful understanding spouse) but began to search. With a fine tooth comb we looked everywhere from outside in the wet bushes to inside the car, to inside the house, to shaking out the coats. Nothing. The ring had vanished. I was close to distraught.

After nearly an hour searching with a tired toddler in tow, we reluctantly gave up and left for Thanksgiving dinner, letting my parents know we would be late. Mrs. LIAYF had resigned herself to never seeing her diamond again.

About the time we left the driving rain converged on the region. The traffic for the 1 1/2 hour drive stretched into 3 hours bumper to bumper. By the time we arrived, we were all tired, hungry, sick, and had to pee. Thanksgiving dinner had been served. Plus, it was nearly time for Grandpa to leave and tend to the Farm.

But then, as I reached back to grab Lukas' fleece jacket, I happened to reach down into his sleeve, and there inside the upturned cuff, was Mrs. LIAYF's diamond. Safe and sound, but precariously close to being lost forever.

It was a Thanksgiving Miracle!

Though I still felt pretty stupid for not being more careful with such a valuable possession of my wife's, we all then sat down and enjoyed warmed up turkey with all the fixings, good company, and the knowledge that we had one more things to be thankful for this November 26th.