No Swiping Wipies

It finally happened.

In one of the safest cities in the world, where the idea of something being stolen never enters one's mind, where you can leave a stroller with many things in the pockets out in front of a restaurant, or a temple in this case, and come back hours later to find it and everything in it still there, the unimaginable happened.

Something was stolen.

Out of the stroller.

Not the little hat.

Not the umbrella.

Or the raincoat.

What was deemed so valuable in Tokyo that someone would risk eternal shame and dishonor?

Wipes.

Baby Wipes.

Pampers Baby Wipes to be exact.

Usually carried in the diaper bag, I had fished a couple out to clean the candy off of Ariana's hands as we were playing tourist today with my friend Gayle and her two daughters, Lydia and Addie, and what point is playing tourist if you can't eat candy and ice cream at 11am in the morning.

After getting as much of the sticky stuff as I was going to from her hands, I casually threw the pack into the bottom basket of the stroller. We were at the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa, about to walk up the steps and I was bragging to my friend Gayle about the ability to leave one's stroller anywhere and not have to worry about it, or anything in it, not being there when you returned. We parked the strollers at the base of the temple and made our way up the steps. After a brief visit inside, where we gave our children coins to drop in the box, we made our way down the side of the temple where we stopped for picture taking and eventually made our way back to the strollers. Walking leisurely down the side streets on our way to the Hanayashiki Amusement park, we stopped at a bathroom for the suddenly required "potty break". Gail asked for a wipe and I bent down to get one for her.

They were gone.

I looked in the bottom basket of the stroller.

I looked in the side pocket of the stroller.

I looked in the many pockets of the diaper bag.

I looked again.

No.

No.

It couldn't be.

Amazing.

Someone swiped my wipes.

We stood in shock as the reality sunk in.

Here.

In Tokyo.

Wipes are not safe.

Even at a temple where I would imagine the act of theft would bring about more shame on a person and their family than normal.

Perhaps the thief was a tourist, desperate for wipes and unable to find them in the Tokyo stores. They are difficult to find, as I found out when I went to replace them and ended up with two very tiny packs of "wet tissues", which thankfully I didn't have to use because if I had, I fear these two little packs would not have done the job for Ariana's usual diaper deposits.

In any event, I do think swiping someones wipes is a cowardly, evil act and am now thinking up a suitable punishment. Not that I will ever get to use it in this case. But, it could come in handy.......perhaps for the 17 year teenager who refused to clean up after himself........mmmmm...........