Can a mom do anything right today? There's a pile of studies stacked up high that says no: Whatever our best intentions, parents are messing up their kids, making them fat, or coddled, or hurting their chances of future academic success.
This is not one those stories - it's a simple tale with a happy ending about a mom who got the chance to be a hero to her son.
It's a story about a little blue monkey named Ah-ah.
Ah-ah was well loved by a little boy who had received him on his first birthday. He carried the stuffed animal everywhere - even crammed into his backpack, his head carefully poking out the top, on his first day of school.
But one day, on a camping trip in Rocky Mountain Park in Colorado, Ah-ah was lost. The boy was devastated. His parents searched frantically for him - and his mom called every place where they had been to see if he had been found. No luck.
Three years passed. Ah-ah was gone but not forgotten.
One day, the mom happened to be on eBay, searching for a viola for her daughter. On a whim, she typed in blue monkey. A listing popped up, from Florida, and thinking it would be a sentimental present for her now seven-year-old son, she bought him. When he arrived, she discovered that it was Ah-ah - right down to the jagged cut where the tag had been torn off and the singed fur on the top of his head.
The mom had the honour of presenting Ah-ah to her son, who immediately burst into tears - and the story, told with a sentimental home video apparently shot by the boy's dad, has become a viral YouTube hit with more than 1-million views since being posted on September 6th.
As one comment quipped: "Moms can find anything."
It's not hard to understand why this video has struck a chord (unless you are among the group, regularly trolling YouTube, who would rather mock the tale of Ah Ah's reunion). There's many an adult with memories of a favourite toy that was their constant companion in childhood (and who may even still have them hidden on a shelf somewhere) and more than a few parents who can recall the frantic search to recover it on the day it may have gone missing.
Perhaps some of you have already clicked onto eBay. Maybe your long-lost stuffy is still out there, waiting to come home.
Even if it's a scam - and that fur, say, was singed after the monkey arrived in the mail - it's a sweet deception.
Ever lose a favourite teddy? Share your stories of favourite toys, or pay tribute to the parent who searched long and hard for it.
Erin Anderssen