Spring Break, yeah!

For my entire spring break, I took care of Rock. I took him everywhere I went and whenever I remembered and if I were allowed to use a camera in that area, I snapped a picture of what we were up to. We went to restaurants, the museum, the mall, the Idaho Falls greenbelt, a preschool, a high school, a play, a fourth grade program,and we went shooting, which was awesome. My friends and I had a good time keeping him around, but about midway through the week, it felt like it was getting a little old. I brought my roommate home with me and she had this funny look (a mix of amusement, embarrasment and exasperation) everytime I pulled the rock out of my purse. I was getting a little tired of bringing him out and around too, but part of it was because I was afraid I would pull him out and accidently leave him somewhere. Also, he scratched up everything in my purse and that was getting kind of annoying. And then, when my friends and I were about to drive home after swimming at Heise Hot Springs, I misplaced him. I had worried about leaving him in Idaho Falls all week because I have a record of accidently misplacing things, but I had always figured I would misplace him in my house and worse case scenerio, my mom would have to send him back to me at Easter. I wasn't quite prepared for him getting lost out in the boonies where I would probably never see him again. I won't lie, my heart stopped a second when he wasn't in my bag. Panic and fear settled in my tummy and I could have cried (partly from laughter since I've lost so many things before-- I lost my car keys in a park and my friends and I had to walk to the nearest gas station to call my dad -I was the driver- so he could give me a spare and when he picked us up and brought us back to the park, my keys were hanging plain in sight on a trash can-- partly from PMS, and partly from the idea of meeting Stacey and telling her I had lost her rock. Anyway, I felt much like a babysitter who had lost sight of her charge and while I cared for the charge, I cared a little more for the babysitter who was responsible for watching it. My roommate and I scanned the gravel parking lot and investigated the pool area and the locker room while the boys searched the car. I kept telling myself it was just a rock and if it really was lost, I would bring one my own rocks from home (I collect pretty rocks too) and hopefullly all it would be okay. By the time we left the pool building, I had given up hope and was preparing my "please forgive me" speech for when I came back to Bozeman, but lo and behold, da dun dun dah! They found rock hidden under a seat cushion. Booyah! Having rock for a week gave me some practice in the kind of love one has for a person or animal or something who's dependent on you. And it made me affirm a decision I had already made, that when I have kids, I'm going to buy them those body leashes (the kind that are strapped on kind of like overalls), ID braclets with their name and home address on them, and, I might mellow out by the time I have kids, but maybe even a gps tracker just so I know I can't misplace them.