My 15 Minutes of Horror

          This is not going to be one of my normal "kids make me laugh" blog entries. It is my 15 minutes of horror entry. What everyone needs to know about my parenting style is, I know where my children are at all times. No one and I mean no one plays in the front yard without an adult. They are not allowed to just hop on their bikes and come home when ever they please. I am not a big stay over at other peoples homes kind of mom. If my children are invited to a party with a friend I don't know, I check the parents out on the sex offender registry and court records. I know I sound paranoid but they are my children and I love them. And you never know when a birth parent may find out where I live and try to visit or snatch one of my babies back. So I error on the side of the overly cautious mom and I don't apologize for it.

            The other day was a typical hot day, the kids were swimming and I was painting the hallway. After a while they all came in for some lemon-aid and I decided to take a break and have some too. After that the kids went outside in the backyard to play and I resumed painting. It was a extremely humid, so after about 10 minutes they were all back in the house for more lemon-aid. I went to the kitchen to make some more and noticed Jackson wasn't with them. "Where's Jack", I asked. They all started talking at once, he was just here, he's in the back yard, he went downstairs. Then I noticed the front screen door was not locked, (I have a lock placed high on the front door so the little kids can't get out into the front yard without supervision). Panicking I yelled for everyone to look for him. We all started screaming his name, looking in bedrooms, the basement, the garage, the shed, the car shelter, over the back fence, everywhere. After 5 minutes I called 911 explaining I couldn't find my 7 year old helpless little boy. The operator on the other end was very calm and I was pissed, why wasn't she as panicked as I was? She was asking me all these stupid questions like when was the last time I saw him, what color was his hair and what was he wearing. When I told her his gray swim trunks she insisted I look in the pool, the deep-end to be more specific. I told her I could see my deep-end drain from my patio door and he isn't in there. She kept insisting, so finally I said, "Look lady he swims like a fish, he's not in the damn pool". Then it was who's home, are there any other adults at home, where are they, how many children do you have? I'm frantically calling his name and trying to answer questions at the same time. After 10 minutes on the phone with her all the while I'm crying, I'm screaming and on the verge of passing out when Ian yells that he has found him. Looking out the patio door here comes Jackson walking hesitantly out of the car shelter. The 911 operator tells me how glad she is that we found him  and says an officer will be out to check the welfare of the child then hangs up. Check the welfare of the child? They needed  check me and see if I had a heart attack. But the real reason for checking his welfare is to see if I beat him senseless for scaring the hell out of me and the rest of the kids.

            Jackson ran very fast into the house and straight to the family room and closed the door. He wasn't coming out to talk to the police, he wasn't kidnapped and didn't understand all the fuss. When the officer arrived Jacob brought Jack to the front porch and Jack had a death grip on his big brother. The officer explained what all the fuss was about and how bad he had scared his mama and the kids. Then he asked where he was hiding. Jackson said, "I wasn't hiding I was looking for something". To which I replied, "Looking for something? You were in the car shelter in the car underneath the car cover, you weren't looking for anything you know you are not to be in Dads car". After that the officer left and we went into the house Jackson immediately hugged me and told me how sorry he was and when he hears anyone call his name he will come so I won't have to call the police on him ever again. We talked for a long time and I just thank God that Jackson was hiding and nothing more terrible had happened to him.
         This was the most scariest day of my life. I watch programs all the time and read about missing children and wonder how their parents survive not knowing what has happened. I have never felt so scared or helpless in my life and it only lasted 15 minutes.