Sunday, February 6, 2011

Lost and found

Today is a day of ones. Give one smile to one person, one hug to one other. Say an encouraging word to one. Perform one charitable act for one person. One-on-one. It’s a way of life, but it will multiply many times over in your lifetime. For now, one is a great way to start! (By Ron Cooper) 

 

I remember  reading  a  blog a few  months  ago,  it  was  Pennie's over  at Mom's Thoughts one  afternoon  she  could  not  find  her  son  after  school,  he  had  taken a short cut  home, and I remember  thinking  how  awful  that must have been,  well now I know  just  how  awful  that  was.................   Last  Friday  my  daughter  went  to a sports  evening  at the  school,  I dropped  her  off,  and  I didn't need  to fetch  her  as she  had  arranged  with her  friend  to  pick  her  up  with  the  evening  was  over,  simple......  at  about  9.30  I  phoned  to make  sure  that  all was  still organised  as  after  the  week  I  had, had  I was  exhausted  and  bed  was  calling my  name  loud  and  clear................  KAREN  COME TO  ME,  KAREN  WHERE  ARE  YOU,  I  NEED  YOU................... 

 

as  all  was  still on  track,  off  I  went to  bed,   just  as  the  sand  man  was  filling  my head  with  thoughts  of love........mmmmmmm........... my cell phone  singing  to  me  somewhere  in the  back  of my head  was  an  unwelcome rude  awakening,  as  I  dragged  myself  back  to  reality,   it  was  Kayla  asking  if  I could  fetch  her,  I asked  what  happened  to the  friend,  and she  tells me,  OH  she  forgot  her  friend  was  fetching  her...............    alarm  bells  began  ringing and  being  a  Mom  I  just  had  a weird  feeling  so phoned  her  back  and  I could  hear  she  was  a bit  panicked,  so  asked  must I  fetch her,  and  her hurried  YES  told  me  she  was  stressing  so I  jumped  in the  car,  pyjama's  and  all..........  not  a pretty  sight   and  off I  went  to the  place  I had  dropped  her  off...................  which  has  always  been  the  rule,  that  I  pick  up in the same  place  I  drop  off,   which  just  happened  to  be  a one way street, in the  rush  to  get there,  I made  mistake  number one  I forgot   my cell phone  at  home, and  after  driving  up and  down  the  street  for  10 minutes,  was  people  and  cars  everywhere  she  was  nowhere to be  found..................  okay  I am not  going  to panic  yet,  I  sped  home  as  fast  as  grease  lightning............

 

  I  flew   home  to  fetch  the  cell phone..............  and  on reaching  her on her  phone she asked  where  I was   she  was waiting ,    Luckily  we  live   minutes  away  and  as I  got  close  I was  surprised  at  how  everyone  had  left  so  quickly,  there  was  a few  people standing  around  a couple of policemen,  but  no  Kayla.............  panic  is  now  setting  in,  I have  to park the  car.............  picture  the  sceen  pyjama's............  no make up...........  bed  hair............... 

 

panic  attack.................  no one had  seen  her................. by now  hysteria  is setting  in............... so  I decided  to drive  around the  school to see if  i could  see her................  on the  other  side  of the  school  it was  in darkness  and there  was  no one  except  there  by a tree,    Kayla  all alone...........  crying  her  eyes  out................  as  usual  my first  hysteria  reaction  is  to  yell,  scream,  shout, explanations  come  later.....................   

What  had  happened  was  she  had  come  out of the  wrong  gate,  and they  would  not let  her  back  into the  school,  she  had  no air time  and  could  not  phone  me,  and  was  to afraid............  thankfully.........  to walk  around  to where  I would  be.

We  both  learnt  a  lot  of lessons,  never  forget  your  cell phone,  always  make  sure  you have  airtime,  I  will always  drop off and  pick  up to  any event,  I  really  need  to learn  not  to  panic,  and  she  really needs  to be  much  more  responsible,  if she  wants  to be treated  like  an  adult ,  it is  time  for  me  to let  go,  and  stop the  "smothering".

 


 

14 comments:

  1. Oh dear. I felt panic just reading this. I cannot imagine the fears going through your head. At least she was smart to stay put - even if she was all alone and scared. Glad all was well in the end. :)

    I loved the "one" message at the top. So true. One tiny act of kindness given can turn the world on its axis. :)

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  2. Oh, how scary that must have been! A parent's worst nightmare! I'm so glad everything worked out okay.
    Hope you have a great week! :)

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  3. My heart was racing reading this! I'm glad she's OK and I'm glad you are too. How do we survive parenthood with out losing our hair as well as our minds? Hope your week is a good one Karen!

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  4. Oh God! this was a scary incident... but thank God things just went for the good.

    I don't remember any such incident involving myself but once we lost my sister. We were at a school fair and I was in my third grade or something and my sister was even littler. She is two years younger to me. My dad and i, we were looking at the things displayed at the various counters and i knew my sister was walking just beside me... because we were walking in a single horizontal file... so i just knew she was there, I could see her through the corner of my eyes.... but then in another minute, she was not there. Gone. We could not find her at all, it was evening and dark. My dad asked me to stand at the place and he went searching for her... not that i liked my sister back then but i felt so troubled, i did not want to lose her like this... it was then that someone started announcing that they had found a little girl. Hurried I told my dad and we went to the announcer... and there she was, poor creature, crying her heart out... we just grabbed her. And I held her hand so tightly for the whole evening. that was the scariest event of missing people in my life... so far... and let it be the last.

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  5. Honey you got my heart beat racing this morning for sure. Girl I was scared the whole time I was reading this.
    Thank God you found her but what a horrible nightmare for the two of you.
    Nothing worse than not knowing where your child is and my heart goes out to you for going through this.
    The main thing is you two did learn some great lessons here which could save a life one day.
    Now I need to slow my heart down. haha
    Glad you stopped by and entered the One World One Heart giveaway. Hope you went to others sites.
    Love
    Maggie

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  6. Oh how frightening! I'm glad she was ok!
    I lost my 4 year old at a Renaissance fair 6 years ago and felt like you! Only she didn't have a cell phone then. She does now!

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  7. This is a BIG worry of mine. So much so that my 7 year old will probably be 35 before I let him out of my sight.

    Glad all is well. :)

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  8. that made my heart race...so happy everything turned out good....

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  9. I read your story. I am glad she was ok. Communication is so important & good tips on keeping your cell phone charged!

    ahhh...so it is hot in South Africa! I was wondering if there was anyone who really likes winter...we have gotten a lot of snow in the North East...so warmer weather would be nice. I hear ya on the hormones!

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  10. Thanks for stopping by today. I can't even imagine your panic, I would've been just as paniced. That's too scarey, thank goodness you found her and all ended well though!

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  11. The same thing has happened to me a few times. It's the worst possible feeling. Once my daughter got locked out of the school and didn't know enough to cross over to a grocery store and wait inside. Fortunately, she didn't freeze before I arrived. That was back before cell phones.

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  12. Wow!1 you know how to write a thriller!! My heart was racing and I was hung over the computer keyboard, breathing harder trying to read faster!!! Being a mom is hard sometimes. I've had feeling like this too...one lOONNGGG story about my son's not calling when they wnet to a movie...first showing sold out so they wnet to a later one and didn 't call the FIRST time they were out driving ALONE! Panic! -before the days of cell phones! They are a marvelous connector!
    Glad it all turned otu OK!!! Phew! Gotta wipe the keyboard from all the moisture!

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  13. You know I know how you felt! Parents die a thousand deaths, I think...it's amazing our children make it to adulthood...that they survive their own irresponsibility and that we don't strangle them for their irresponsbility! (just kidding...of course...) But, we sure can tell God is watching out for them sometimes...and I'm glad we don't have to relive some of those moments! I'm glad she was okay. Let's hope it never happens again. (Same with Aaron and I - I never want to lose him again, either...)

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  14. I'm so glad that there was a happy ending to this story. So much can happen in a few minutes. It's very scary now unlike when I was young and people could be trusted for the most part. JB

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