My worst nightmare....
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Yesterday it happened....I LOST one of my precious children! It was something that I hope I NEVER have to experience again! Thanks be to God that He was watching over little Jesse and he was returned to me in a short period of time...but that 5 minutes seemed like an eternity to this mommy!
I had decided to stop in a local department store on the way home from the airport yesterday afternoon, just a quick look around as the store was closing and EVERYTHING was on major sale! The store wasn't crowded at all, quite the opposite, things had been pretty picked over before the Christmas holiday. I found a few pairs of pants for the girls to try on and so we headed to the fitting room in the children's department. I didn't have the stroller with me this shopping trip, a rare occurrence, but I did grab a shopping cart to use while we perused the aisles for awhile. When we went into the fitting room, I sat both boys on the little bench there inside the booth. I figured they would sit still there for a few minutes while I helped Bethany change. Sarah was playing with them, so I figured everyone was covered. Well...I soon noticed that Jared was running circles around me and Bethany and so I turned to see what his brother was up to. I didn't see him! I quickly counted heads...Bethany, Sarah, Jared...but NO JESSE! I went into a real panic! I started hollering at Bethany to get dressed, and put Jared into the shopping cart, just outside the door. I ran up and down the dressing room aisle, telling Sarah to crawl under any doors and look for Jesse. All rooms were empty...no little JESSE! I exited the dressing room, scanned the aisles around us and still couldn't find his little head bobbing anywhere! I ran to the main aisle. flagged down a sales associate and told her that my son was missing and that he must have crawled out from under the dressing room door when I was helping my daughter try on some pants. The gal must have pushed some sort of buzzer behind the counter or something, because the next thing I heard over the loud speaker was, "We have a CODE YELLOW, CODE YELLOW..." By this time, Bethany, Sarah and Jared were coming out of the dressing room and were helping us search the immediate area. I am sure it was only a few minutes more before an older sales associate came waltzing down the aisle towards me. She was the kindly Grandma type, and had a big smile on her face. In her arms, was my wayward son Jesse, acting like nothing in the world was wrong, although his mother felt like she had just had a major heart attack! What a relief when she placed him in my arms! She told me he had wandered down several departments to the women's dressing room area. She had remembered seeing "the cute twins" there just a bit earlier. (I had stopped in there just prior to our visit to the children's department to try on a few blouses for myself and the dressing room attendant had given Jesse a few nylon stocking knee-highs to play with, as he was fussing. I guess he was going back to visit her and get more stockings!) Needless to say, great relief rushed over me, but it still took me some time to get my head on straight. A few deep breaths, a stern talking to for my son and we headed home. I am not sure Jesse understood a word I said to him, but he must have sensed how upset I was because as I held him close, his little face in my hand so that he would look straight into my eyes, he stuck out his lower lip and started whimpering. All the way home, we prayed, thanking God for watching over Jesse and for bringing him back safely to us!
What have I learned from this experience? I vow to never again go shopping without my stroller and I don't think we will be visiting any fitting rooms for awhile! I think that trying on clothes with 2 small munchkins in tow is NOT a good idea! And I have learned just how quickly my little guys can disappear on me so I must be much more vigilant in keeping track of them! I am so thankful that God is all knowing 100% of the time and knows our whereabouts every second of the day! I am thankful for His protective hand on myself and my children. May I learn from this experience AND MAY IT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!
I had decided to stop in a local department store on the way home from the airport yesterday afternoon, just a quick look around as the store was closing and EVERYTHING was on major sale! The store wasn't crowded at all, quite the opposite, things had been pretty picked over before the Christmas holiday. I found a few pairs of pants for the girls to try on and so we headed to the fitting room in the children's department. I didn't have the stroller with me this shopping trip, a rare occurrence, but I did grab a shopping cart to use while we perused the aisles for awhile. When we went into the fitting room, I sat both boys on the little bench there inside the booth. I figured they would sit still there for a few minutes while I helped Bethany change. Sarah was playing with them, so I figured everyone was covered. Well...I soon noticed that Jared was running circles around me and Bethany and so I turned to see what his brother was up to. I didn't see him! I quickly counted heads...Bethany, Sarah, Jared...but NO JESSE! I went into a real panic! I started hollering at Bethany to get dressed, and put Jared into the shopping cart, just outside the door. I ran up and down the dressing room aisle, telling Sarah to crawl under any doors and look for Jesse. All rooms were empty...no little JESSE! I exited the dressing room, scanned the aisles around us and still couldn't find his little head bobbing anywhere! I ran to the main aisle. flagged down a sales associate and told her that my son was missing and that he must have crawled out from under the dressing room door when I was helping my daughter try on some pants. The gal must have pushed some sort of buzzer behind the counter or something, because the next thing I heard over the loud speaker was, "We have a CODE YELLOW, CODE YELLOW..." By this time, Bethany, Sarah and Jared were coming out of the dressing room and were helping us search the immediate area. I am sure it was only a few minutes more before an older sales associate came waltzing down the aisle towards me. She was the kindly Grandma type, and had a big smile on her face. In her arms, was my wayward son Jesse, acting like nothing in the world was wrong, although his mother felt like she had just had a major heart attack! What a relief when she placed him in my arms! She told me he had wandered down several departments to the women's dressing room area. She had remembered seeing "the cute twins" there just a bit earlier. (I had stopped in there just prior to our visit to the children's department to try on a few blouses for myself and the dressing room attendant had given Jesse a few nylon stocking knee-highs to play with, as he was fussing. I guess he was going back to visit her and get more stockings!) Needless to say, great relief rushed over me, but it still took me some time to get my head on straight. A few deep breaths, a stern talking to for my son and we headed home. I am not sure Jesse understood a word I said to him, but he must have sensed how upset I was because as I held him close, his little face in my hand so that he would look straight into my eyes, he stuck out his lower lip and started whimpering. All the way home, we prayed, thanking God for watching over Jesse and for bringing him back safely to us!
What have I learned from this experience? I vow to never again go shopping without my stroller and I don't think we will be visiting any fitting rooms for awhile! I think that trying on clothes with 2 small munchkins in tow is NOT a good idea! And I have learned just how quickly my little guys can disappear on me so I must be much more vigilant in keeping track of them! I am so thankful that God is all knowing 100% of the time and knows our whereabouts every second of the day! I am thankful for His protective hand on myself and my children. May I learn from this experience AND MAY IT NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN!
posted by Melanie @ 11:34 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Dear Melanie, my heart aches for you! I know JUST how you feel. Most women with two or more children have a "near miss" story - so we are not alone.
Thanks Marie! Yes, several people who witnessed my panic came up to me shortly after and told me how their child had hidden in the clothes racks, or just plain got lost in a crowd. At first I felt like THE WORST PARENT! Sure was scary...it has always been my WORST fear!
Ok little Jesse, you scared Grandma too! But just know that your Mama was fast to move out of sight once or twice to scare me to death too when she was little. But it's a lesson learned so you know to stay close to Mommy next time.
Love you...
Tutu
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