Breathe

That is what I have had to tell myself to do a lot lately... at least more than any mom should have to do. I'll start off with the most dramatic story since I'm sure my brief post yesterday sparked the interest of those that have not already heard what happened.

On Tuesday evening Tegan went outside... I knew this and I thought Brendan knew this but he thought Tegan had decided to stay inside with me. SO, we each thought Tegan was with the other parent. About 15 minutes later Brendan walked into the house and asked where Tegan was - I said "isn't he with you?" and Brendan says, "I thought he stayed with you. He's not with me." Immediately we started searching. Tegan wasn't in the house, or our yard or our neighbors yards or on our street.

Brendan hopped on his bike and started searching our block, even going the 4 blocks to the park. After 5 min or so I decided to call 911. The operator/dispatcher I spoke with was wonderful and assured me that the police were on their way and that I needed to stay at my house in case he came home. I then called my mom and asked her to pray and after hanging up I did just that myself, and continued to do so as I continued to search.

Our neighbors then heard me yelling Tegan's name so they came out and started searching the patch of woods behind our house that leads to a creek (my fear was we'd find him face down in the creek). Brendan soon returned and searched the house again and my level of panic continued to rise as we still couldn't find Tegan. He then left on his bike for another round of searching the block and park.

Approx. 5 min after the 911 call a police officer arrived and told me that she just received a call that Tegan had been found. Shaking and in tears I jumped into the squad car and we slowly made our way down an adjacent street trying to find the address of where Tegan was apparently located. Nearly half a mile away we encounter a small group of people (including recently arrived Brendan) surrounding Tegan. What is my child sitting on? HIS BIKE! When we asked Tegan what he did wrong he replied with, "I don't have my helmet. It was stuck and I couldn't get it on."

Yes, turns out my little man wanted to go to the park. So he tried to put on his helmet, was unsuccessful and decided to go anyways. Once he was at the park (who knows how long he was there for) 2 adolescent boys saw him by himself, "corralled him" (as they put it) and then started down the sidewalk (in the opposite direction of our house) looking for an adult. Once they found one, the adult called the police and because Tegan's name was on his race number on his bike (from last week's Buck Hill kids' race) they got immediate confirmation that he was the 2-year old white male with light brown hair wearing dark brown shorts and a light blue shirt that had been reported missing.

OH-MY-GOSH! Needless to say we had a long talk with Tegan who still has no clue how seriously dangerous and wrong his excursion was. Oh, and the bike now hangs 6 feet off the ground in the garage. If you ask Tegan why it's hanging up he'll explain to you it's because he was naughty and went to the park all by himself... then he'll smile. UGH!

I'm still rattled (2 days later). It took me several hours after the incident to finally stop crying and another 24 hours or so for the adrenaline rush to ease up enough for me to eat much more than pasta or crackers. Praise God that Tegan turned up safe and sound, but I'm sure you can imagine all of the horrific scenarios that were speeding through my mind while we were searching for him.

The moral of this true story: Always accompany your child to wherever he/she is going to meet whoever he/she is going to be with. Never assume anything.

So I'm tired just from posting this... so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pics.
Love to all!
~j