Monday, June 25, 2012

Lost & Found: A Sippy Cup's Story

Remember when you were a kid and someone in your family would go away on vacation or a business trip and bring you back something amazingly awesome? I used to love that shit. My dad was an office supply salesman and used to spend a lot of time traveling. He never disappointed with the gifts he returned with.

 Presents, presents, presents! Gimme, gimme, gimme!!

As a kid, I tended to cherish those trinkets and t-shirts more than any others I owned. So when one goes missing, it's like the end of the fucking world. Seriously.

My grandparents went on vacation to the Alamo one time and brought me back the coolest t-shirt. I'm sure it was a cheap-o they picked up at a $5 stand the day before they left, but to me, it was if it was made of gold. I was nine. Bite me. And then I lost it during a sleep over at my cousins' house. I was crushed. I thought about that t-shirt often over the next several months and each time was hit with a pang of regret over not taking better care of it.

 Yeah, my Alamo t-shirt looked nothing like this. Way cooler.

No one brings me vacation tchotchkes anymore so I'm relegated to buying them for myself. I have a hard time leaving a place without at least a t-shirt, or a sticker, or something. It seemed to be worse when we went to Forks. I can't believe all the stuff I crammed into my suitcase to make the trip back east.

One particular souvenir was what I adoringly refer to as my Lake Crescent sippy cup. You know, those plastic tumblers that have their own twist on cover and straw? I fucking love this thing. All summer long it gets filled with various cold beverages -- both alcoholic *gasp* and non.

 MY TREASURED SIPPY CUP!!

I filled said sippy cup with some Arnold Palmer* for a golf tournament last Friday (fitting, right?) and promptly left it in my golf cart. I didn't realize it was missing until I was home. Oh, the horror! I was crushed. I was certain that the boy who cleans out the carts either (1) mistook it for trash and threw it away, or (2) stole it for himself since it is so amazing.

Ask anyone who had the displeasure of emailing me Friday afternoon, I was distraught. Suicidal even. I couldn't stop lamenting on what might have happened to my poor, awesome sippy cup. I was seriously searching for prices on airfare to Seattle (even though I know deep down that if I called the Lake Crescent Lodge, they'd probably ship me a new one.) Maybe it's just that my trip to that particular place and the people I was with hold such a dear place in my heart. I didn't want to lose part of that memory.

I heart my Twitarded family sofuckingmuch! (Missing TK *sobs*)

So Sunday afternoon, I found myself back at the same golf course and happened to pop into the Pro Shop to ask about their Lost and Found. I described my "lost" to the kind, golfer-y gentleman and it didn't seem to ring a bell as he started searching the area obviously dedicated to such items.

And then I spotted it. Sitting on the counter directly behind where the man had been standing -- MY SIPPY CUP!! I nearly squealed as I pointed it out to him. This find completely made my weekend and turned my frown upside down.

 I was totally THIS excited!! Maybe even more.

I happily skipped out to my car and took my sippy home for a nice warm bath as it didn't appear that anyone took the time to properly wash out the dried up Arnold Palmer. I shall treat this tumbler with much more respect and maybe leave it at home from now on. I can't go through this shit again.

Do you have a favorite souvenir? Maybe it's something you got on a recent trip to Forks with Twitarded? Or something you've saved from your childhood?

*If you don't know what Arnold Palmer is, it's half lemonade and half ice tea. I did NOT chop up Arnold Palmer and put him in a blender to make an old man smoothy. Although I'm sure my preceding reputation might make you think that.

25 comments:

  1. I use my dad's old, worn-out, beat-to-hell overnighter case from HIS old biz-trip days when I have to hit the road. He brought me back many a tiny hotel soap in that damned bag. I treasured all of it! When I smell "Safeguard" soaps, I think of him. Heh.

    ReplyDelete
  2. God, I love that picture of you guys *sighs* ...My favorite Forks souvenir is my coffee mugs..I use them everyday, I thought I lost one or someone took it and I about put the whole house on fucking lockdown. FOR REALZ! But I found it out in the RV like a day later. oopsie mommys gone cray-cray.. it's all good. We love what we love. I can't wait to go back in October for more goodies.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm glad you found your sippy cup and no one jerked off into it.

    This is one of the reasons why I'm terrified to bring my cup to work with me, even though I know I'd use it everyday. Well, not the jerking off part, more the losing it part. Or having someone steal it. Random shit disappears off my desk from time to time. I'd go fucking nuts if someone jacked my sippy cup.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alas, the cup is safe, but I can almost guarantee the Alamo shirt is full of DNA somewhere.

      Delete
    2. I hate you. Now I must sanitize.

      Delete
    3. Maybe they only dipped their balls in the cup...

      Delete
    4. Well then... that's ok if it was just the balls.

      Delete
  4. I am in the middle of a 4500 mile move. (Hawaii to the mid-west, it sucks!) I would be beyond words excited to have ANY of my stuff. But I feel you on the sippy cup! I am borderline obsessive about all of mine. I have one with me at. all. times.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Arnold Palmer is the SHIT! Last year my son and I went to the grocery store and it was on sale in the gallon jugs, so we got 2. My son said "did you get the drugs?" I said of course, they're in the back! He actually DID say jugs, but I misheard and still knew what he meant. ANYYYWAYYYY....mine fav souvenir is a Twilight souvenir from the Viewpoin Inn where they did the prom scene (before it got burned). It's a Christmas ornament of E & B.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm telling you... it's my all time favorite non-alcoholic summer time beverage. In fact, I may go make myself one right now!

      Delete
  6. I treasure all my souvenirs I got while in Forks last year, its the most things I have ever purchased while on a trip. I usually get one thing, maybe two. Not last year. I have several things that remind me of all the twitards.
    I would like to do the trip again, but its not in the cards this year. Sadface.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I drive by the Bonanza gift shop so many times. Not what it used to be I can tell you that. Used to be such a great place for the Vegas tourists to go, now it's the parking lot for all the hookers and homeless. Vegas needs to bring back the mobsters to run this place

    ReplyDelete
  8. This whole post just makes me miss you all so fucking much. You know I would make a trip to Crescent Lodge just to buy you a new cup...if I had to I would. xo

    ReplyDelete
  9. Aww, LKW - I love a happy ending!

    Now I'm super glad I got you that kiwi keyring and pen, I didn't realise they'd mean so much... musta been psychic!

    Side note, do you guys really call that a sippy cup? Cos round these parts, a sippy cup has a spout, two handles and is more suited to Renesmo than to LKW. Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it's not really called a "sippy cup" -- I just like to call it that!! Normal sippy cups are just as you had described. I'm just a bit touched. But you already knew that!

      Delete
    2. In my world, sippy cups are any portable cup that I can sip out of and that I have an unreasonable affection for. I think I have about 5...

      Delete
    3. I fucking love my keyring and pen!!! :)

      Delete
  10. Probably something silly like my coveted pens. I'm a writer, so the way ink flows out of a pen is VERY important. I have a few 'writing' pens and when I catch another family member using said pen, I threaten them to within an inch of their life to return it to it's mama.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am ridiculously attached to so many Forks souvenirs, but speaking of Lake Crescent, I would cry real tears if something ever happened to my Lake Crescent tee-shirt. It's my fave sneaky "this is Twi and Osa Bella related and you don't know it!" think. But I have a BUNCH of things I love and use all the time - I am ridiculously sentimental (believe it or not!).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What IS it about Lake Crescent that has us all so sentimental about it? I love that place...

      Delete
  12. I am a souvenier junky. I think I have a problem really. My favourite ones are my newest ones :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. My current fave is my beanbag Park Guell dragon from Barcelona. And the Dalí-esque horse ornament with crazy long legs that I got in Figueres on the same trip. I just can't come home without something. And I feckin hate to lose any of them, no matter how worthless they may seem to anyone else. Glad I'm not the only one! :)

    My dad's a pilot and he used to bring me stuff from all over Europe. I miss that...

    ReplyDelete
  14. My Lodge in Forks mug! Really wishing I'd bought two... or five. Because I will cry if it breaks. This year, if there are any left, I'm buying them all!

    ReplyDelete
  15. When I was little I freaked my Mom out when I ran back across a busy highway to save my DisneyWorld hat that had been blown off my head by a crazy wind gust. I still have that hat!

    I am insane about keeping sentimental things. My sister and I always collected rocks and we were smarter then and wrote on them where they were from. Now that I am older I am dumber and I have all these rocks but I don't know where they are from (Hmmm unless they are from my head LOL).

    I am sooooo happy you found your sippy cup. I was truly getting ready to pick up the phone to get you a new one. When I read you found it I broke out into the biggest smile. My co-worker even asked what I was so happy about.

    ReplyDelete
  16. LKW! I was going to offer to get you another one when I go out there this year but since you got yours back...I could still pick one up though.

    It's now my yearly tradition to go out there every year & I absolutely LOOOOVE Lake Crescent & La Push. I had never been out to see that part of WA until our trip right before the first movie came out. I didn't know we had beaches like that in WA. Now I am obsessed. I get a new sweatshirt every time I go to La Push too.

    I have a Venetian Carnival mask that I got in Italy that I love & some stuff from India & Ireland. I like to keep stuff that I get in foreign countries more than the stuff I get in the states. I feel like I never know when or if I'll get to go back to that country so I get possesive over those things. HAHA!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are our life now. Leave one!