childhood tragedy

Today we went to a friends bday party at Pump it up, a warehouse full of bounce houses for the kids to go crazy on. Shaun had a blast, plus pizza, plus cake, plus goody bags. In Shaun's bag was a bouncy ball. The string it was attached to unattached within minutes, Shaun improvised by using a piece of paddle shaped card board to bounce it off of. On the way home he was holding it out the window and SURPRISE he dropped it and bye bye, no more cardboard. I figured, no big deal, it's not like it was his shoe or hat or something important, it was a piece of cardboard trash.
About 15 min. later as we are nearing home I hear soft sobs coming from the back seat. "I want my paddle! I'm so sad I dropped it." I am fairly sure that the sobs had a lot to do with the fact that he stayed up late Saturday, playing with his dad, and Sunday, because his flight didn't even get in until 8:40pm, and Monday, because his cousins were here and they never get to sleep when they are together. He cried himself to sleep on the couch, laying in my lap while I worked on this blog. Tomorrow is another day, hopefully we'll find a new paddle.
Don't feel too sorry for him. After getting his picture taken, the 85 lb sleeping child got a free ride to bed courtesy of mom the amazing pack mule, able to lift dead weight and carry it to the far side of the house in a single bound.