Austen's Sunglasses

Having a dog in the city means that we have to walk her twice a day since we don't have a backyard to let her out in. So usually if it's warm(er) in the evening, we'll all go for a walk after dinner. One time last week, it was particularly sunny out when we started our walk so Austen wanted to wear his new sunglasses that Grandma had given him in his Easter basket. They were Hot Wheels sunglasses -- black with race cars on the side. As Austen rode his big wheel that evening, I knew he was pretending he was some cool race car driver. Only problem was that early on in our walk, the sun started to go down so Austen hooked the sunglasses to the front of his shirt like he's seen his Dad do so many times instead of giving them to me like his sister did. About halfway through our walk, Austen got this panicked look on his face and started searching his shirt and Big Wheel frantically for something. "My sunglasses! My sunglasses," he cried! Thinking he must've lost them when he was racing around the patio of the local Starbucks, I waited with Peyton while Tom and Austen circled back to the Starbucks, which wasn't that far away. Seeing Tom shake his head in the distance that they weren't there made me think that I had better catch up to them and start tracing our steps back. I had this gnawing feeling in my stomach that this outcome was not going to be good. And, I was right. In the distance at one of the crosswalks Tom spied Austen's sunglasses. Now the story would have had a happy outcome I'm sure if he lost them anywhere else but in the crosswalk of a fairly busy street. There in the crosswalk in plain sight was Austen's sunglasses, smashed. I don't know what was worse, him seeing them smashed into the asphalt or him just thinking he lost them. He blubbered and cried like a two year old the rest of the way home saying "My sunglasses, my sunglasses!" over and over. I bet next time he hands them over to one of us when the sun goes down instead of trying to be cool like his Dad.