Welcome home, dear Sippy Cup

This is a PSA for all parents...for people who think they may want to be parents...for people who are friends with parents...for people who have had parents. :) Ok, read that last one again.

Sunday we traveled back from Oklahoma. It's a 5 hour drive that usually turns into a 7 hour drive thanks to Samuel. We left my parents house around 1:30 p.m.

Immediately, I knew something was wrong. There was an odor. Not a distinct --we need to change a diaper odor--but an odor nonetheless.

Scott and I have been married for 3 years...It's not a terrible long time...but we've developed a pretty good friendship. We have seen each other through our worst moments (read...butt naked with the stomach flu, can't get off the bathroom floor, honey I think that's a piece of banana in my nose, pick out your favorite pistol and shoot me... moments).

So, when we started our trip we both naturally assummed that the smell was from our beloved.

We tried to ignore it. We smiled politely at each other. We tried to make conversation despite the stinging in our nostrils.

Yeah, right. We are like any other good married couple. We blamed each other.

"Scott, you reek. Unfortunately, you are going to have to ride on the top of the truck home."

"That of course would mean that you would have to drive without trying to kill us with your excellent road skills. I think for the safety of our family YOU are going to need to ride on the hood of the truck."

Then, like good parents, we blamed our kid.

"Sam, you stink. New diaper needed...pronto!"

It was only after we had pulled over and frantically stripped our kid that we realized...

The odor wasn't us.

And then it hit me. Like a ton of bricks. A ton of smelly bricks. Where was the Thomas the Train sippy cup? The red one that we used last weekend? The one that we both said was SOOOOO wonderful because it kept the milk cold? Oh, dear Lord...we prayed. We got down our knees. Right there on I-35...we begged. PLEASE God, don't let this be.

But it was.

The sippy cup that was lost had been found.

Angels rejoiced and two grown adults cried.

No, really...we cried.

Because there under the drivers seat was the source of the terrible smell.

The sippy cup.

We immediately discarded the substance found inside the cup - put it in a ziplock bag - put that ziplock bag in another ziplock bag - tied it to a pole and hung it outside of the truck for the rest of the ride home.

Then we took turns driving the rest of the way home with our heads hanging out of the truck!