Two days ago, we got home from daycare and work, and Grant wanted to ride his scooter. It wasn’t where we remembered it being, so we looked more places – the garage, the cars, the other side of the house… nothing. So we reviewed the footage from the doorbell.

We saw it was by the deck the night before, but not later on, during the afternoon of the following day (the day we reviewed the video). So we skipped back and forth, narrowing down the timeframe, until finally, we saw it at 6am, and not at 6:24. We reviewed the 6:23am video, and lo. Into the frame sneaked a man, who took the scooter, and hurried away.

Grant was mystified. “Why did he take my scooter?” he asked over and over. “I don’t know, lovey, he saw it, he wanted it, so he took it. That’s why we don’t take other people’s things – it’s not nice.” We called the police and filed a report. That was pretty much it. A really disappointing moment, as Grant absolutely loves his scooter.

Yesterday (the day after the theft), we had a rushed hand-off after work. Bob got home earlier than I did (I was home later than usual), and he had to go out on a run, and I had to get all the kids out the door to go to my parents’ house (our usual Tuesday routine). I was still in the mudroom with all three Ringlets, chivvying them to get their shoes on (it doesn’t matter which shoes, just get some shoes on your feet, no I don’t care if you have socks, we’re just going to grandma and grandpas, I don’t care if they match, just get some shoes on, please put your shoes on, where are you going, you don’t have shoes on, etc), when Bob bursts in the back door, all sweaty, with the scooter. He was running on the trail, noticed a guy on a scooter under the bridge, who had the same backpack and hat on as the thief. The guy saw him running and started to scoot, so Bob ran after him, caught him, and took the scooter back. In his own words:

Grant was ecstatic and declared Bob his hero.

A stolen scooter is not the worst thing in the world. And chasing down a guy under a bridge is potentially dangerous. But in this case, some stars aligned, and luck prevailed, for which I am grateful.