Any parent whose child attaches to a security object knows that the bond between child and "lovey" is a bond like no other. Tom Gray of Hillsborough, N.C., knows firsthand about the turmoil that results if the special object is ever lost. "Our son has a small stuffed seal that was given as a present on his first birthday," he says. "We almost lost 'Mr. Seal' one weekend during a trip to the mountains when my son was 4 years old."

Returning to their hotel room where they had left Mr. Seal while out for the day, they discovered the stuffed animal was gone. "We frantically searched the entire room with no luck," Gray says. "We called the front desk. The night clerk, obviously childless, told me there was a 24-hour Wal-Mart just down the road where I could buy another stuffed animal."

Luckily, the hotel's manager had children and understood the situation. They concluded that housekeeping had not seen the small stuffed animal left on the bed and had wrapped up Mr. Seal in the dirty linens when they changed the sheets.

"The hotel manager helped me go through the hotel laundry, quite a monumental – and disgusting – task!" Gray says. "This was a large hotel, and together he and I went through every sheet, blanket, pillowcase and towel, searching for a small, off-white stuffed seal. We found many things – you don't even want to know – but no Mr. Seal." Gray's son cried himself to sleep that night cuddling with his mother.

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