The Fate of the Ipod!

Poor Mark! He has had such a roller coaster week! Our story begins with his iPod-Touch that he had purchased with his own, well-saved birthday money! $250 covered the ipod and the cool black case. A couple weeks after his big purchase, he let his little brother play a game on the ipod. For some reason, little Reese decided to shove the ipod into his jeans pocket. And before the night was over, we realized with horror that Mom had thrown the little jeans into the wash...not knowing that the ipod was in the pocket! By the time we realized this, the load had gone thru a cycle, and needless to say, the ipod was drenched with soapy water. Even behind the screen. It was destroyed. And poor Mark was devestated. Yet he never yelled or lost his temper or blamed anyone. He just covered his face with his hands and sobbed. I felt horrible that I had done this to my kid! It's not like he had left the ipod in his own jeans and tossed his jeans in the wash. He had taken really good care of his possession, and I felt responsible for not checking Reese's pants pockets before washing them. So, I decided I would save up and replace his birthday treasure. But, Ryan decided, instead, to make a trip out to the Apple store and see if they would replace it. Sure enough! They replaced it, no questions asked. Phew! Mark was thrilled!

One week later, Mark brought the ipod outside to show a neighbor kid a song. He carelessly set it down on the hood of visiting Papa Joel's car. It wasn't until Papa Joel said goodbye and drove away that Mark realized he had forgotten to retrieve the ipod! Again, he was miserably distraut at his loss. I gave Papa Joel a call...with little hope that we'd find the thing. As we spoke, he looked out over the hood of the car.....and saw the ipod still sitting there! He had driven miles down a busy 4 lane street, stopped in a grocery store, and continued driving to his hotel....and somehow the rubbery grip of the ipod case had kept it planted on the hood of the car the entire time! So, he hopped out at a red light and grabbed the ipod to bring back to Mark. Phew! Another close call!

One week after that, Mark had the ipod sitting on the sink ledge while he was washing his hands, and oops...it slipped and fell into the toilet. Ugh! AGAIN! He didn't tell us all day until Daddy came home and tried to turn it on (to no avail). At that point, Mark fessed up to his carelessness. Aye! I've about had it with this ipod! It's too much of a responsibility for a 10yr old! And Mark agreed. Ryan didn't feel like it would be honest to go back to the Apple store and try to sucker out of them a new one. In fact, he told Mark that it would be stealing. And I agree. And I was so happy that Ryan chose to be honorable in this instance. So, we've tried all the little remedies that people have suggested....like using isopropyl alcohol to dry it out....and let it sit for a week in dry rice to soak up any addit'l moisture...etc... But no matter what, the thing won't turn on. So, Mark has pretty much counted his loss and decided to move on. I still get a pit in my gut when I think about it tho. Even tho it's a small loss in a huge world of need, I still feel so bad for my kid. :(