“Your little one sure is a stinker”, were the words that came from the mouth of our Hostess. We stayed for a week at their families ranch. She continued on, saying “She was missing for over an hour today while you were on the trail ride. I thought that I was going to have to tell you that I lost your child”.

Apparently, right after we left on our horseback ride, our youngest child went missing. The family had every available ranch hand searching frantically for a tiny three year old. Though they searched high and low, through all the barns and rooms, the child was no where to be found. The hostess told us that just as she was leaving her second sweep of one of the cabins, she heard a wee little giggle coming from underneath one of the beds. As she peeked under the bed, she discovered a delighted little three year old, along with one of the kittens discovered in the barn, staring out at her with an impish grin.

My child fell in love with that kitten, calling it Buttercup for some reason, even though its name was Gus, I think. Our little clown had been under that bed, watching the whole search party event along with her co conspirator, with great pleasure.

Relief is always a great diffuser of anger, I believe. Everyone was so happy to find the little escape artist, that they couldn’t be angry. They chose to laugh about it instead of dealing with panicked parents, had we gotten back before they found our child.