Close to a year ago, in January or February, Lydia saved up her allowance for a couple of months and bought a little mp3 player. She put a few of her favorite songs on it and carried it around everywhere for at least a month or two, then it disappeared. For a long time we suspected it had been swallowed into the depths of the quagmire that was her bedroom, but after several unsuccessful reconnaissance missions we gave up that hope. We searched backpacks and drawers and coat pockets, all to no avail. It was gone, and much to Lydia’s annoyance, no amount of pleading would persuade me to buy her a new one.

This morning, more than six months after it went missing, the mp3 player was successfully recovered.

It all started uneventfully enough. Lydia’s class was scheduled to go ice skating today–the first time this school year–and I had gone down to the basement to try to find her skates. It’s always something of an adventure, going to the basement. I didn’t find any ice skates, but I rifled through some boxes of holiday decorations, took a quick look at my wintering-over geraniums, and rummaged through a collection of outgrown toys, grabbing a couple that Petra might like, before heading back upstairs. Near the foot of the stairs I saw a plastic grocery bag lying on top of another box of toys. The legs of Lydia’s old snowpants were sticking out, as well as the fingers of a glove from a pair I’d forgotten she had. When I took a closer look, I found that both gloves were there, as well as a pair of pajama pants, and, at the very bottom, the long-lost mp3 player.

So now it’s been restored to its rightful place around Lydia’s neck and we can look forward to weeks, at least, of her singing along, off-key, to Shakira, Pink, and the soundtrack from High School Musical.