🍼 Craig’s Great Adventure

Not a high quality picture but it says it all.

👀 What would you do if you saw a baby crawling down the sidewalk with no one around?

Back in 1983, I was a stay-at-home mom with three boys under the age of six. Yep—three of ’em. We lived in a cute little stucco house right across from the high school in Fernie, and just down the road was a tiny store that might as well have been Disneyland for my kids. Every time they got their hands on a penny, they were off to buy candy. 🍭 One of my bigger parenting regrets? Teaching them to spend the second they had anything to spend. But hey—you live and learn, right?

🌞 That day was sunny and peaceful. I opened the door and sent the boys outside to play in the fenced yard. Swingset, sandbox—the whole setup. I checked the gate like I always did. From the kitchen, I’d keep an ear out, and if I heard someone scream, it usually meant everything was fine. That’s just how it went in our house. Cory probably took something from Cam or Craig, and somebody was letting him know about it—loudly.

☕ My friend Dorothy Butterfield showed up, just like she always did. No knocking, no warning—just a trail of laughter and the scent of coffee drifting in behind her. We settled in at the kitchen table, chatting and cackling like we always did.

Now, I’ve got a library full of Dorothy stories—she was one of a kind—but this is the day she saved me from a visit from Child Protective Services.

😂 Somewhere between the gossip and the coffee refills, things got a little too quiet. The yard was silent, but we didn’t notice. Dorothy had one of those laughs—loud, snorty, and impossible to ignore. It could’ve drowned out a marching band, let alone the sound of a gate creaking open.

🚨 Then it happened.

A woman showed up at my sliding glass door.
She wasn’t smiling.
And she was holding my baby.

😳 My heart just about stopped. Dorothy’s face dropped. I had no idea who this woman was, but Dorothy did—her name was Kate.

Without missing a beat, Dorothy walked over, gently took Craig from her arms, gave Kate a quick hug, and said, “Hey hon, you want some coffee?”

Spoiler: Kate did not want coffee. She was furious.

“I found him crawling along the sidewalk! Alone! Do you have any idea what could’ve happened to him?”

I was frozen. Couldn’t even speak. Dorothy stayed calm, kept her arm around Kate’s shoulders, and said gently, “It’s awful, I know. The older boys must’ve run off to the store and left the gate open. Wanda didn’t know. This was just an accident.”

Kate wasn’t convinced. She let loose on how I shouldn’t have kids if I couldn’t keep track of them, and that maybe someone should call the authorities. I was shaking.

😅 But here’s the thing about Dorothy—laughter was her shield. She used it like armor, and she used it well. She didn’t argue or scold. She just leaned in and started telling a funny story, the kind that makes people forget what they were mad about in the first place.

Kate blinked. Then cracked a smile. Just a small one—but it was enough.

Dorothy kept going, tossing in another joke or two, and before long, Kate’s anger softened. That was Dorothy’s magic—she turned tension into laughter, even if it meant making herself the punchline.

🥄 Eventually, Kate sat down. Dorothy poured her a cup of coffee, handed Craig back to me, and with a side-eye and a smirk said, “You owe me, lady.”

🍬 Later that day, Cory and Cam came bouncing back into the yard like nothing had happened—candy wrappers in hand and sticky smiles on their faces. When I asked if they’d shut the gate, they looked at each other and shrugged. Just two little boys with candy on the brain. They weren’t trying to be careless. But that day taught me how fast things can slip through the cracks—even when you think you’re on top of it.

📅 I got to know Kate better after that. Turns out, she was a good egg—just caught us on a bad day. We ended up laughing about it later. But I’ll never forget how Dorothy stepped in, not just to help, but to protect me when I couldn’t even find the words.

That was Dorothy. Loud, loyal, always armed with a cup of coffee, a good joke, and a heart big enough to carry the rest of us. ❤️

☕ Wanda-ism:
When life goes sideways, get yourself a Dorothy—but until then, keep the gate locked.

Pull up a chair. I’ve got a story.