8-year-old cried after losing his favorite plushie—sheriff’s kind gesture helped him finally sleep at night
Seemingly small things might mean a lot to a person. So when a kid lost his favorite plushie, he was more upset than anyone could have imagined. The 8-year-old William Kay had always slept with his dog plushie called "Dog" and was reasonably distressed when he lost it during a family trip and couldn't sleep without it. However, with his dad's efforts and a Wyoming Sheriff's kindness, William could once again sleep with Dog snugly tucked in his arms, per Cowboy State Daily.
The family had stopped at Hays, Kansas, at Alta’s Grand Targhee Resort after their ski vacation when they realized that the plushie was lost. The brown dog plushie had been with the boy almost all his life. "He helps me fall asleep at night. I was sad when he was lost and almost cried when I got him back," William expressed. His mom, Christina, had received the plushie during her baby shower and Dog had been with them ever since then. "When people don’t know if you’re having a boy or a girl, they give you stuffed animals. William’s been sleeping with Dog every night for six years," Christina revealed. William had insisted that he had to take Dog on their vacation, too.
The family was driving back to St. Louis on March 22 and pulled off Interstate 80 to get their lunch from the backseat. However, because of the strong winds that day, Dog blew off after they opened the door and the family hadn't noticed that. "I got out of the car to run around to the back door on the driver's side to get our sandwiches out of the cooler and William unexpectedly opened the car door. The door nearly blew off the car. The backseat looked like a bomb had gone off. That’s when Dog blew out," the boy's dad, Bill, recounted. Once they came to know that the plushie was lost during their stop, they searched the car thoroughly, but came out empty-handed. William was considerably upset and so were his parents, as they couldn't replace the beloved toy.
"I didn’t have any backups, and they must have stopped making that dog because I couldn’t find another one. But even a new one wouldn’t be the same. He’s worn and well-loved. He’s our version of the Velveteen Rabbit," Christina went on. The family had made peace with the fact that William would have to learn to cope with loss. However, the dad didn't want to give up just yet and ended up finding the location where they might have lost the plushie through Google Maps. "That lot was very close to Carbon County, so I went to the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office website and saw Sheriff Alex Bakken’s smiling face. I clicked on his email address, started writing and it continued to snowball from there."
Bakken applauded the dad for taking care of his child's emotional well-being and promised that he would try his best to find Dog. A couple of days later, the dad got an email from the Sheriff that the plushie had been found and on March 31st, William was reunited with Dog. The sheriff sent the plushie inside a care package to the grateful family and the excited boy. "There were deputy bags for kids, some challenge coins, a couple of patches and a lovely Carbon County Sheriff’s Office water bottle. Dog was very well packaged inside. It was a great package to receive," Bill continued. More importantly, the boy learned a necessary lesson from the ordeal. "He learned that there are great people in this world that will do things to help you, even when they don’t know you. I think that was a wonderful lesson for William."