Near-death experience...

People, my marriage almost ended tonight.
Perhaps even my life.

Reece treated me to Happy Sumo for FHE, since I've been craving sushi (though I can really only eat California rolls in my present state) and since it happened to be VIP Happy Monday (half off all entrees, maki rolls and appetizers -- seriously, sign up for the VIP program).

We spent a cozy evening munching on miso, teriyaki steak and teriyaki chicken while watching the snow flurries outside.  Even Lola was in high spirits -- we let her go to town with a pair of chopsticks.  Though she refused to eat anything of substance, she was in heaven when Reece gave her the ice from his water to crunch.

Yep, she spits out the teriyaki chicken but devours the ICE.
Sigh.

Anyway, since Reece refuses to let his major award (aka the new iPad) out of his sight, he insisted on bringing it into the restaurant.

I believe it went something like this: "Jessica, like I'm going to leave it in the freezing car across the street from the homeless shelter. Would you leave Lola in the freezing car across from the homeless shelter?"

He asked me to put it in Lola's diaper bag to protect it from flying rice and sneaky iPad-snatching ninjas.

Somewhere over the course of dinner I guess I took the iPad out of the bag to get a diaper for Lola, and apparently it never found its way back to safety.

As we were walking to our car, my husband's fatherly instinct kicked in.

"Where's the iPad?"

A quick search of the bag resulted in panic from all three of us.  Reece nearly passed out, I ran like a maniac back to the restaurant and Lola screamed bloody murder as her mother abandoned her to the vices of her distraught father.

I burst through the doors, ran to our table and quickly surveyed the scene. 
No iPad.
I really started to panic then, and I could tell I was causing a scene because the entire staff came out (including a guy who looked a lot like a bouncer whose name was probably something like Killer) to see what all the fuss was about.

They watched as I nearly broke down into tears, chucking the contents of the diaper bag, peeking under the tablecloth -- seriously, I was ready to strip search every single person in the restaurant if I had to.

And then I saw something black poking out from under the table.

I kid you not, some of the servers started to clap as the 21-week-pregnant lady squatted down to retrieve her husband's most prized possession.  One even yelled out, "Praise the Lord!" to which I couldn't help replying, "Amen."

A miracle occurred at the Gateway today, and all is right with the world.

Yet I'm fairly certain Reece won't let me within 20 feet of the iPad ever again.