Boy loses beloved toy monkey; three years later Mom finds it on eBay

[snopes]

In 2009, a one-year-old named Liam received a stuffed blue monkey as a toy from his grandparents. Ah-ah, as the monkey was named, became the Nebraska boy's prized possession. But Liam misplaced his beloved toy monkey on a trip that summer to the Rocky Mountains National Park.

But three years later, Liam's mom made a seemingly miraculous discovery when she stumbled across what looked like the very same toy on eBay.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1153566

[effo5231]

Something like this happened to me IRL a few years ago. I left home on bad terms at 19 and never looked back. At 25 I was searching ebay to kill time when I saw a huge collection of assorted X Men toys for sale for $100. I looked closer at the listing and realized that it wasn't just any assortment, it was MINE. I could even see my name scrawled Toy Story style on the feet of a couple in the listing.

Apparently my step father had sold the collection right after I moved out, and the person who bought it left it in storage for a few years before deciding to unload it. Of course I bought the lot and asked the seller if I could pick them up in person instead of shipping. When I got there I asked if he had bought anything else with the toys. He showed me a stack of boxes with my old clothes, the blanket my grandmother had knit for my crib, all my old karate and wrestling trophies, and even my yearbooks. He ended up letting me take whatever I wanted... To this day that guy is on my Christmas card list.

[Brad from Georgia]

Weird but absolutely true story: My uncle and his wife went to Florida on their honeymoon. His new wedding ring was a little too big (he planned to have it sized later), and it slipped off his hand and fell into the ocean while they were out deep-sea fishing.

Now, eleven years later--in fact, on their wedding anniversary--he was going to grill a big sea bass for their dinner. They'd bought it at a local market. My uncle was standing at the kitchen sink cleaning the fish, and he stuck the knife in and felt it grate on something hard.

It was his thumb. Took nine stitches.

That ring was gone forever.

[tagurit]

I love you Brad!

[mags]

That was great, Brad! It's only funny if you were lying about the true part, though, ouch!

The OP just doesn't ring true for me, though. It just seems like such a strange thing for someone to be trying to do on eBay, and even if one was setting up a business to reunite people with lost toys, to actually get a confirmible hit?

I found my childhood toy on eBay. Of course, I had never lost my Pot Belly Bear, I was just looking for one to give my husband so he'd stop stealing mine in the mornings. Smokey is such a good light-blocker when you nestle him over your eyes. Of course, my husband's bear looks more like Smokey looked when he was new, before I loved him to death.

[queen of the caramels]

Thanks for the laughs Brad..

[Gutter Monkey]

A friend of mine wanted to buy copies of his favourite childhood books so his children could read them and found a bunch of them in a secondhand store which turned out to be his old copies.

It was extra pignant for him because his father was an alcoholic who would sell off all his toys so he didn't have any of his old toys or books from his childhood at all.

[Minstrel]

Originally Posted by mags

The OP just doesn't ring true for me, though.

It seems a bit off to me as well, although this may be due to my unfamiliarity with the memory capabilities of small children. Would a 4+ year old really be able to remember a toy he lost when he was 1+ so clearly as to tear up when he saw it?

[musicgeek]

The article appears to have been re-written since it was first posted. I don't think he was 1 when he lost it; I think he'd already had it for a couple of years (it says he took it with him "to preschool") when they went on the camping trip.

[Xia]

In the video they posted where they show him getting the toy back, the mom says he lost it on a trip they look when the kid was in kindergarten.

[nonnieyrissa]

Reunion vid... will foster tears...

[Hero_Mike]

My boss found some of his personal items - stolen by unscrupulous movers - for sale online. They were rare and fairly valuable, and the seller (an antique consignment shop) was all to helpful in telling him the details about the seller and their ignorance of the value and rarity of the items. The sad truth at the end of it all, is that the local police returned the items but declined to prosecute because of limited resources.

[Rebochan]

Years ago, when I was still a super hardcore Weird Al fan, I was constantly trying to get a copy of his movie, UHF. At the time, roughly 2001-2002-ish, the movie was out of print for years and only existed on beat up VHS tapes. But eventually I was persistent enough and won an auction for a tape that had clearly sat at a video store for years.

Well, I watched the tape with a friend of mine who was also a big Weird Al fan and used to own a copy of the movie.

I showed him the box and he did a double-take. It was his old copy. They'd sold it to a pawn shop after a move. He could even remember exactly where the video errors would show up on the film

Also, Brad, you're a terrible terrible person for making me laugh like that

[Richard W]

Staveley, whose daughter once lost her precious blanket, searches all over for lost toys and sells them — hopefully to their original owners — on eBay.

She's like a real-life version of Emily from Bagpuss...

I don't see why a child wouldn't instantly recognise one of their toys. I had a stuffed toy dog when I was very little, which coincidentally was also called Ah-ah, although I spelled it A-A as far as I remember. I'd definitely have recognised it instantly if it had gone missing and was returned a couple of years later. I think it was originally pink flannel, but by the time I remember it, it was grey and very chewed-looking. I can even remember how it smelled.

[STF]

This is a great story. It's one that I would have appreciated anyway, but appreciate more now that I am a father of two. I get a kick out of how much my little ones enjoy their "stuff." Not the materialistic nature of it of course, but how a small toy or whatever can bring such big enjoyment to them.

[Chloe]

My friend's little girl is now boycotting the library because of a story time about Knuffle Bunny going missing. It was so traumatic she had to be taken out screaming, poor kid.

[Richard W]

I managed to upset a two-year-old last week when she asked me to draw a picture of a dragon, so I did, then she asked me to draw a picture of a baby, so I drew the dragon eating the baby, but she looked upset so I drew a knight killing the dragon and rescuing the baby, and then a picture of a happy baby with the knight. But she was still upset and looked at me as though I was a complete monster and seemed really hurt by something. Next day she had a t-shirt with a cartoon picture of a friendly dragon on it... Two-year-olds get upset easily about these things.