The moment I saw our son’s blue baseball cap dangling from the German Shepherd’s teeth, my heart stopped.

Five hours of desperate searching, calling the police, and suspecting our peculiar hosts had led to this moment. But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

I never thought our annual family vacation would turn into the most terrifying day of my life.

Looking back now, I can laugh about it, but at that moment, it felt like my whole world was crumbling around me.

Being Tyler’s mom is the greatest joy of my life.

Every morning when I watch him devour his chocolate chip pancakes or scrunch up his nose while solving math problems, I’m reminded of how blessed we are. With a supportive husband like Jake by my side, I can’t help but wonder what I did to deserve such a beautiful life.

But hey, don’t get me wrong.

It’s not like Jake and I don’t have our bad days.

We argue about silly things like whose turn it is to do the laundry or whether Tyler should have a later bedtime. But at the end of the day, we always find our way back to each other.

That’s what marriage is about, right?

Getting pregnant with Tyler wasn’t easy. After three years of trying and countless fertility treatments, we’d almost given up hope.

I still remember the day I saw those two pink lines on the pregnancy test.

Jake found me crying on the bathroom floor, clutching the test to my chest like it was made of gold.

Since then, my life has been nothing short of wonderful.

I’m so grateful to have an intelligent boy like Tyler in my life.

“Mommy, why do birds fly in a V-shape?” Tyler asked me just last week while we were at the park.

His bright blue eyes were fixed on the geese overhead, his mind always working, always curious.

I smiled, adjusting his baseball cap. The same cap that would later give me the scare of my life.

“Well, sweetie, it helps them save energy. The bird at the front breaks through the air, making it easier for the others to fly.”

“Like when Daddy lets me ride on his shoulders at the mall?”

“Exactly like that, clever boy!”

These are the moments I live for.

Maybe that’s why Jake and I made it our tradition to take a family vacation every year, no matter what life throws at us.

This year, we chose a small coastal town.

Nothing fancy. Just a week of beach walks and ice cream cones. We’d booked a modest hotel online, well within our budget.