HERSHEY, Pa. — Like most kids, 3-month-old Violet Boyer has become very attached to her teddy bear.
"We like to bring the bear with us and say we're going to bring the bear with anytime we go somewhere special," said her mother, Natalie Balmer.
But who her stuffed animal represents makes her bear a bit more meaningful than the average child's.
"Let's get dad," said Balmer. "Let's take him."
"Violet's dad got stationed in Korea one week before I found out I was pregnant," said Balmer. "He was able to come home for her birth for three weeks, and then he had to go back. We don't know when he'll be home.
Balmer brought little Violet up to Pennsylvania on her maternity leave. The Hershey native now lives in Pensacola, Florida, and the military bear came along for the trip.
But they quickly realized it was missing.
"We had him in her car seat, and he must've fallen out while we were walking in and I didn't realize until we were done with breakfast," said Balmer. "So we searched everywhere for him, asking surrounding businesses and just trying to find him. "
Violet's grandma wrote this post on Facebook, which was shared thousands of times, asking if anyone had seen the special bear.
And few days later, she received a message from a family in New York who had found it.
"They said in their message that they could tell it was significant," said Balmer. "So they wanted to pick it up so nothing happened to it."
The Lowe family had been vacationing with their son Nivek in Hershey from Hornell, N.Y.
"I didn't know he picked up a stuffed animal until we got back to the car," said father Kevin Lowe. "It was a homemade bear, and I know if I made something and we lost it, I'd definitely want it returned."
Nivek cared for the bear until someone connected the families through Facebook.
Then Lowe shipped Violet's bear all the way to Pensacola, Florida.
"I cried when I found out it was found," said Balmer. "When she got it back, I could just tell she was so excited. So we're very thankful that he kept him safe."
As you can see, Violet was very happy to reunite with her special bear.