Lost & Found...

Thank goodness for pictures and angel Moms without it we would be out one hearing aid. We decided to take Sydney on a hike at Black Diamond mines with the dogs this week. Beautiful weather, happy Sydney, life was good. The mines were cool to see both figuratively and literally. The air that blows out of the mines is so cold and refreshing.

We hike up the stairs to the next mine snap off some more self portraits and continue around the mountain. Halfway through Bernard asks me to check Sydney's hearing aids. *Panic* her right aid is missing. Luckily there is plenty of soft white sand up there since it is a silica mine. I play in the sand with Sydney and Bernard back tracks looking for the aids. Meanwhile I look at the pictures we just took in the camera and I can see her aid in one picture but not the next. Bernard comes back empty handed. Now with grumpy baby in tow and two tired mutts, we back track again. Still no luck. We ask hikers in the area...nothing. Ok in my mind it is gone forever someone either picked it up and is going to make a nice profit on E-bay or a coyote is going to have super hearing somewhere. We post a missing sign at the entrance of the trail and leave empty handed and broken.

I felt like a terrible mother, I didn't have a back-up and she was going to be without sound in that ear for up to a month. It made me sick to my stomach. I jumped into fix-it-mommy mode and called the audiologist to make a warranty claim and went to the notary to get a letter published so we could get the new aid ordered. I filed a missing report with the police, called the rangers of the park, and posted an ad on Craigslist. Still no luck.

The following day I decided to go back out to look for it. I examined the photos one more time and pinpointed where I thought she may have lost it. I believe in this photo is about the exact moment when she ripped the aid out. Armed with a walking stick and flashlight I trekked back up the hill. I climbed the steep hill next to the stair case where I thought hypothesized the dry grass swallowed her aid. After 20 minutes of searching, no luck. I prayed to my mom to help me find her aid and within 2 minutes, nestled in the dry grass, out of sight was her purple hearing aid. Thanks mom and Happy Birthday! We love and miss you.