Don't have what you need? Be creative

As we arrived at the airport for our vacation, Julia had a bit of a freak out moment.

WHERE'S BRYNNE'S BINK?!?!?

Bink = pacifier

It wasn't strapped to her shirt.

It wasn't on the ground.

It was nowhere to be seen.

Like an idiot, I suggested the following:

Well, we've been thinking about helping her kick the bink habit - maybe this is a sign that now is the time to start.

Apparently that wasn't a good idea.

I was politely informed she would probably like to have her bink for the flight to help with her ears popping, and we wouldn't want to wipe it down every time she dropped it.  And she would drop it.

She knows when it is dropped it is still right there for her.  So even if she sneezes it out (which is a pretty cute sight) it is right where it should be.

As luck would have it we could not locate her back-up holder before we left, so the AWOL holder was our only option.

I had a brilliant idea!

The shops at the airport have a very strange inventory they maintain.  I was sure they would have a holder.  AND it might even be duty free!!

They did not. 

I could buy a little yapping dog that flips over all by itself.  I could choose from a wide variety of shot glasses, magnets, and even bumper stickers.  Or any number of pills, electronic devices, or reading materials.

SIDEBAR - I think it's very interesting how the airport shops sell Playboy, Penthouse, and other adult-themed magazines.  Do people really buy them there and then read them on a plane?  What an awkward flight that must be if the reader sits next to a member of the clergy or a little old lady.

SIDEBAR OVER

I couldn't, however, find anything that would even come remotely close to fitting my need.

There comes a time in every man's life when he must ask himself one very important question:

My answer was simple: 

• I pulled a spare bink from the bag of them I held.
• I pulled out my shoe.
• I removed the shoe lace.
• I used it to fashion my very own (patent pending) bink holder and tied it around Brynne's neck.
• I actually tied it through a button hole on her shirt - her neck was too big.

 Problem solved.

I'm sure we looked like the biggest rednecks in the world with my daughter sucking on a bink being held to her clothing with a dirty shoe lace, but I didn't care. 

She would have that bink in a familiar place if she needed it - and that mattered more to me than my appearance.

We did, however, stop by the local Walmart once we landed to purchase an actual bink holder. 

It was the wrong kind, but that didn't matter.  With a little more MacGyver ingenuity, and the assistance of a local seamstress, we had our bink holder - and I had my shoelace back.

It was a little moist, but still functional.