Still coming down...

[nwhiker]

off the adrenaline high. That was not pretty.

First, the most important. She's here.

At about 3pm, the kids went to play with the neighbours. I guess one set wasn't there, which is why Perry came back, but Z and H were home, and Linnea said she'd be playing over there with them. This is not uncommon, and my kids often disappear into one neighbour house or another, and theirs into mine, for hours on end.

Fast forward to about an hour ago when I asked Perry to go get Linnea. He came back saying that Z and H weren't in fact home. There is no where else for her to be.

I panicked. Full, flat out panic. Hyperventilating until I ended up on my knees on the floor, sobbing, screaming, the whole bit.

Dh, slooooooooooowly made his way over next door to see if they were there. I'd have gone, and I'd have run but... um... knees=jello, that wasn't happening.

I'd seen her earlier in the yard, headed towards the lake. Yeah, you can guess where my thoughts were going. The fact that they have never EVER EVER violated my "no further than..." edict didn't even register.

Poor Perry was trying to hug me, and be next to me, but I was barely coherent. I finally went outside to wait for dh. It was taking him forever, and I was positive it meant he was knocking on everyone's doors to make sure she wasn't there.

Turns out he was dragging Linnea away from a massive Barbie game. She came skipping home with him, chattering about the Barbies, the dog, the playhouse. I could hear her as they walked down the driveway, and I started to cry.

I've been weepy since. I mean, I'm typing here through tears.

Comments

[thinking-lotus.livejournal.com]

Aw. I'm glad Linnea was fine. I mean, they usually are, but I am with you on the panic when they aren't where you expect them to be.

[nwhiker.livejournal.com]

It was really scary. Dh pointed out -unhelpfully- that this had happened before, and it was usually because the neighbour's doorbell is broken and Perry doesn't bang loud enough for anyone to hear and come open. I'd quite forgotten that, to be honest.

I don't know why I went into full blown panic yesterday, when I usually don't. Perhaps because I'd seen her in the yard earlier? I dunno.

[piwamoto.livejournal.com]

Just reading this; so sorry that happened to you! I'm all teary eyed just reading this!

I will never ever forget the time I went out to play at a friend's house, and she wasn't home, so I went to another friend's house instead. When I wandered back home, my mother was in a full blown panic, since she had gone to fetch me and found no one there. She was about to call the police. (Perhaps I remember it, though, because it was the one and only time my father ever spanked me!)

Yikes, there is nothing on earth like fearing for your child's life, is there?

HUGS!

[nwhiker.livejournal.com]

Your poor mother. Horrid. And yet... you weren't really to blame, right? It's hard to understand from a kid standpoint (and yes, I've done the same thing, though I was probably a bit older, 8 or 9).

Thanks for the hugs.