A Little Girl and her Piglet

Our trip to Anaheim was quite eventful. The girls danced beautifully, but failed to qualify for Nationals. This was Quinn's first Oireachtas (O-rock-tus), so she was mostly just happy to be there. Scout, on the other hand, had high hopes. This was her third crack at it, and she worked very hard the last couple of months. Her disappointment was palpable, but she mostly kept it together. She stayed to watch her friends who were recalled, and bugged us to stay for the awards. We opted for Downtown Disney instead, but I was proud of her for wanting to support her friends.

As we walked around Downtown Disney, Scout was unusually distant. I figured she was still recovering, but when we got back to the hotel, the truth came out. Scout burst into tears and told us that she had left her Piglet back at the Hilton (we'd moved over to the Best Western that afternoon). First the dancing, then Piglet, it was all more than she could take. It's silly I know, such trivial things in the big picture, but no matter what the cause, watching your heart-broken child is never fun. Especially when you're the one who did the final look-through in the room.

We called the hotel, but no Piglet in the lost and found. We left our number in case he turned up, but there wasn't a lot of hope.

I knew Disney would buy us some time. No matter how sad she was, Scout couldn't resist the happiest place on Earth.

There were many great moments during our two days at Disneyland, but the highlight of our stay was when the hotel called to tell us they'd found Piglet hiding out in the bedsheets. We were standing in the Tower of Terror line, and I'll never forget the look on Scout's face when Meg told her the news.

I'm not exactly sure when Scout got Piglet, but I know he's been around for a long time. It's a bit like Toy Story 3, Piglet a symbol of Scout's childhood. Scout wouldn't have been the only one devastated if that little guy hadn't shown up. Here's hoping Piglet is around for a long time to come.