A Day in the Life

It all started with the following text thread at 3:53 pm:

My husband sent me this picture of Colin and two of his friends. 

Caption: "what's wrong here?"

I immediately noticed Colin wasn't wearing his glasses (red flags!!!) 

Plus one was the "wrong" friend. Jeremy was supposed to be with them.

What happened? I asked. Then I called.

This is what hubby learned: A temple stem fell off. Just like this. The broken glasses were currently at daycare. The kids were currently at Grabenacherweg - a street in our neighbourhood, where the kids go door to door selling chocolate hearts to raise funds for our national crisis hotline.

I felt I was in some level of crisis mode myself.

Hubby could tell my blood pressure was rising. 

"Don't drop everything, he shall sort it out himself when he gets home" he told me

Sounds good in theory, but let's get real. It's not that Colin tore his jeans. It's costumized glasses he needs for school. Plus - more importantly - he's invited to watch a soccer game tomorrow night. He needs to keep his eyes on the ball. Right?

Also I have to work tomorrow. I can't rush to the optician once my boy has sorted things out.

I called my contact lense lady. She wanted details on what exactly was broken. I told her I hadn't seen the glasses yet but would report back.

"Just send me a picture, like last time."

Last time? Don't ask. 

Off to Grabenacherweg I went. No kids. 

Next stop: Daycare.

His caretaker told me the incident happened at the gym they frequent every Thursday after lunch. They tried to fix the glasses, but the little gizmo that holds everything together was missing, so they put the glasses and the separate stem in an envelope which he took to Zopfhaus where they attend religious study in the afternoon. They didn't know what happened after that.

OK. I took the schoolbag he left behind at daycare (I had a feeling he wouldn't return that afternoon) and cruised through our village once again.

There they were. What happened to the third kid?

They had three more hearts to sell. 

OK, hurry up, we need to get your glasses. Where are they?

He shrugged.

My boy shrugged!!!

You've got to know where your #$@&%*!-ing glasses are?

"I think (insert name of bully-ish boy) took them in order to prank me."

And where did he put them?

More shrugging.

I called daycare because that boy is a member there, too. I was told he already went home.

That's where we rang the door bell two minutes later. 

Insertion: I purchased the three chocolate hearts. Here's a life lesson, guys: time is money. I can't sit around and wait for you to sell them to the community. I'd rather pay for them myself and be done.

The boy was home and claimed he didn't know anything about Colin's glasses. He didn't entirely convince me, but what was I gonna do? 

Are you sure you didn't take them on purpose?

"Hold on, I'll check" he offered and shut the door.

"So I checked, and I don't have them."

Where did you check? 

"Where I keep my envelopes."

I tried to keep a straight face. Colin, too.

"It's not in an envelope, you dummy, I told you, the envelope is empty!"

He maintained his innocence, so we left.

Next stop: Zopfhaus, the community center. 

Kids were running around and racing with their scooters. I parked, we got out and walked toward the building. Colin jerked to a halt: 

"There's my stem, wait a minute, both of them! WTAF?"

I noticed the actual glasses right next to them.

I edited the picture for your viewing convenience:

I can't tell you how angry that made me. What happened here? Did somebody drop them by accident? Did they throw them? Did they run them over?

Called the optician again and asked for an emergency consultation. "Sure, come by, we're here."

It was 4:50 pm in the meantime. Major rush hour on the freeway, hooray!

Called daycare to let them know we found the glasses and Colin wasn't returning today.

When you're already tense, every driver that cuts you off makes you extra angry. 

The guys at the optician's office were great. They removed the glasses from the frame and put them into a replacement frame Colin may wear until the new one they were going to order arrives. 

There's a Subway on the same street, and that's where we had dinner.

So I don't even know what to do about the whole thing.

The boy denies having done anything. His parents are poor and don't speak our language well, I don't feel like getting into a debate with them. 

I could try and contact the religion teacher and the other kids to ask if they saw anything.

Or I could just drop it and tell myself there are bigger fish to fry? Nobody got injured, the new frame is not going to ruin me, and life goes on.

What do you think?

PS: In case you were wondering: what were the kids doing at hubby's office in the first place? They figured he might buy their chocolate and offer something to drink ;-)