Last rites for SpongeBob 😂 ooops

Yes, it finally happened.

It happened today while I was vacuuming our bedroom with my very powerful vacuum.

The vacuum acted quick as a bunny and sucked up my sons old stretchy fabric SpongeBob SquarePants book cover as I was dusting the table that it sat on.

I was using the dusting wand so that I could reach each and every speck of dust. Who knew that it was so powerful and can apparently suck up items faster than a speeding bullet?

I immediately turned off the machine and stared at the strange sight of SpongeBob and that he was so darn dirty…he was one of our favorite cartoon shows that my son and I watched together. We loved him.

I realize that the book cover has existed from our sons 4th grade school days until now (which is a long time seeing he’s 29 years old currently) but I still felt awful that it happened.

And there he was deep inside the see through canister of the vaccum…sitting there covered with three different colors of dog hair and tons of dust and dirt. See example in my photo ewww👇🏼

It was not a pretty sight at all.

So many good memories circled inside my head of all the wonderful books that SpongeBob had covered for my son over the years and for him to end up like this just didn’t seem right.

I took the canister off of the vacuum so I could go dump out the dust and dirt and hair and SpongeBob…and said “oh well, no one needs to know this happened except for me.”

Deep in my heart I said “Goodbye” and “oh well” as I shook out the dirty mess into the trash can. How quickly I turned on him. I am ashamed to say.

I then walked back upstairs and and reconnected the empty (I thought) canister onto the vacuum so I could continue to finish cleaning our bedroom.

That’s when I realized that what happened to SpongeBob might have actually been the end of the vacuum as there was no suction nor much power when I turned the machine back on.

I was beside myself and said “oh no. Is it time to spring for a new vacuum?!?”

So I began to take the canister off again and I saw that SpongeBob was still wedged deeper than I Imagine he could ever be into the clear plastic container at the bottom.

Oh my gosh.

SpongeBob wasn’t finished with us. And we weren’t finished with him.

Perhaps SpongeBob wanted to live on and be of more years of use to me and wanted me to never forget all the sweet years of smiles and joy that I received by just seeing him wrapped around a favorite book of my sons and then later my own books.

SpongeBob’s last big job for me was covering my huge New Living Translation paperback Bible that I used during my sons High School days when I was in the “Moms in Touch” prayer group at his High School.

I had donated that Bible a year or so ago to someone when I was clearing out books. That is why he’d been where he was. Just laying there waiting to be used again.

I had such good memories of the prayers the moms had prayed once a week for those we knew as well as for our own kids. How many prayers God had answered and how special that time was.

And because of today I was able to remember some of that and realize that I wanted to save SpongeBob so he could make more joyful memories for me.

So I reached into the container and pulled him out and shook out the dog hair and awful dust and dirt and I hand washed him in the sink.

He seemed dirtier than I would think but maybe it was the dust and dirt of carrying him to school and back for years and opening the pages of the books he covered and just the dirt of ages past that we all deal with on a daily basis.

Let’s just say he is brand clean now and hanging up in the shower to dry.

And Timely enough Today the hubs and I went to our city library used book sale and I purchased two used Bibles. One is for a friend that has asked me to tell him about my faith. It is brand new and obviously never been cracked open. It is an NIV translation (not my fave but apparently since I asked God to direct me to one it might just be the one that this man needs). The other used Bible I bought was a LARGE print NIV Bible and it’s huge in size.

Just the right size for SpongeBob to cover. That one is for me. I plan to read it before I sleep at night and I’ll be able to take my glasses off and read it while laying in bed.

So looks like my SpongeBob fiasco turned out alright after all.

Being so quick to discard our memories like I almost did today reminds me to slow down. To see that perhaps there is still a job that needs doing.

So here’s to SpongeBob and the wonderful memories of days past from the joy and fun of reading. And answered prayers.

Photos my own. 😊

Lu💜