Thank you.
I don’t think I told you thank you enough. In fact, I don’t think I looked you in the eye and really said THANK YOU!
See, I was sitting in the play place with my husband and my father. We were all three watching my two boys. It was the holidays and there were so. many. kids. running around and being crazy.
And I wasn’t even on my phone. I can’t even blame my terrible lack of concentration on my lost little boy. No!
We all saw my little 19-month old run around the side of the play place. But we never saw him run back into our sights. There was a play structure right smack dab in the middle of our vision. I assumed my son had just started playing on that. But when I asked my older son to find my younger one he couldn’t.
I didn’t worry too much because my older son is four and well not the best at finding things.
It’s only when my husband went searching and then looked at me and mouthed from across the way – He’s not here. That my heart dropped into my stomach and I about threw up.
If he wasn’t in the play place where was he?
I figured my husband just hadn’t looked hard enough. There were so many kids and my son is really small.
So I got up and ran around that play place like a mad woman. And he was nowhere to be found.
At this point, I realized that there would have been plenty of time between us not seeing him and now for someone to have taken him. He could be gone.
Gone.
Gone.
Gone.
I whipped around and began to hardcore panic when I saw you. You were holding my son! I ran over to him as quickly as I could and wrapped my arms around him.
You told me he was running barefoot through the mall and was almost at the exit. You took his hand and brought him to the play place. And all the while you told the story I didn’t even look up at you. I just held my son.
So, thank you. THANK YOU! I’m sorry I didn’t tell you enough and I’m sorry I can’t even remember what you look like. I don’t really remember anything else, except that I had my baby boy. He wasn’t gone.
I couldn’t explain that I wasn’t a bad mother that I truly HAD been paying attention but that he had run out of the play place. That we couldn’t see the entrance because there was a giant play structure blocking our vision. That we had been looking for him and we DID notice he was gone.
And that all of my excuses meant nothing because he was okay. YOU brought him back.
