We can laugh about it now...

I believe I have shared this story before, but this time I am sharing it with a different "moral to the story."

There was a night as a young teenager where I was not where I said I would be. Actually, I was quite close to where I said I would be but not exactly there. My parents became aware of the situation and had me paged at the drive-in (where they thought I had gone) and drove all over town looking for me. When I saw my dad's car pull into the church parking lot I knew I was in trouble. I could not understand why, when I got home, my mom and sister were sitting on the fence in tears. I was about 500 feet from home most of the time they were looking for me, and yet they didn't know where I was exactly and I was in big trouble. I didn't get it.

Now I get it.

We had our own similar experience this week. Here we go:

On Friday, Lou had an appointment about 20 minutes north of here. I had to work at 2:30, so Dee was planning to meet me at the doctor's office and take Lou for the appointment so that I could get back in time for work...barely.

Sis and Pippy didn't want to stay around the house doing nothing, so they asked if they could walk to the store to look for a backpack and school clothes. It's only about a 5-10 minutewalk so I thought no big deal. I told Sis to take her phone and they were off, and Lou and I were off in a different direction.

About 10 minutes into our journey we hit major construction delays. I used the opportunity to text Sis, "how's it going?" No response, but no big deal really. I know sometimes she doesn't have the ringer turned up.

A few minutes later, I tried to call. Still no answer, but still the same reasoning. Not worried.

Later, another text, "Where are you?" followed a few minutes later by, "Turn on your phone!"

Still no reply.

I dropped off Lou and rushed back to try to get home in time for my shift. I walked in the door right at 2:30, expecting that Sis and Pippy would probably be back by then. The house was silent.

Still, I was reasoning with myself - the phone was probably just turned off and they were taking a little longer than I thought they would. I almost went ahead and got on to work, but then I figured I would at least run down to the store and tell them it's time to come home. The following is the abbreviated version of what happened over the next 45 minutes:

-Drive to the store. Don't see them walking on the way there.
-Go into the store and walk around the areas I think they might be. Don't see them.
-Have them paged at the front desk. Wait a few minutes. Nothing.
-Think maybe they walked through the neighborhood rather than the main route and I missed them. Drive home using the alternate route. Don't see them walking. Walk in the house. Nothing.
-Start to panic. Try the phone again. Go back to the store. Ask the front desk if they have security footage I can look at to see if they even showed up at the store at all. The store says they don't...or won't show it to me. They suggest I call the police.
-I feel foolish calling the police. They've really only been gone a little more than an hour. And yet, they are not where they are supposed to be. I know they are smart kids and they would never get into someone's car that they don't know voluntarily. I know that if someone tried to take them by force that they were always on busy roads and parking lots and would have been seen. Logically, I know they haven't been abducted. There are no signs of any accidents or anything around. I wonder if they could have gone to a different store - and yet all of those I can think of nearby are not places they would go - plus, Sis is super responsible and would surely let me know if plans changed. Long story short, I ask the front desk to page them again, I start another mad dash around the store, and....I call the police.
-"Um, I cannot find my children." Words I thought I would never say. I explain the story. They ask for descriptions. I'm wandering around the store like a mad woman trying to think - gee, how tall is Sis? What shirt did Pippy wear this morning? They asked me for Sis' cell # and I have to look it up because I always just speed dial it. All the questions....things I thought I would know like the back of my hand....and yet in that moment I just couldn't remember it all. I felt kind of dumb and embarrassed. I knew they had to be okay somewhere, and yet WHERE?
-After my run around the store, I went back up to the front. The 911 operator said she would have an officer meet me in the parking lot. She asks what I'm driving and where I'm parked and I'm thinking "Really? You are going to try to find me in this parking lot with hundreds of cars?" Finally, she suggested I go back home and meet the officer there. Good idea.
-Finally making my way out of the parking lot, I start to head home. Up ahead, I think I see a figure in the distance, and as I get closer I realize it is TWO figures. Then I see the long light brown hair I just described, the striped shirt Sis is wearing, suddenly remembering the shirt that Pippy was wearing. They are carrying shopping bags and purses and drinks from the store I had just been in. What? How is that possible? But yay!
-Pull over, call 911 again and say, "I found my kids!" Different operator. Probably wondered who the crazy lady was on the other end. Explained I had reported my kids missing and now they were found.
-While I am talking to her, I am walking up to the kids and asking them where on earth they were. They, of course, have no idea they were missing and cannot figure out why I am so happy to see them. The 911 operator asks where we are so she can have an officer meet up with us to verify they are okay and that I am really their parent.
-While we wait, I get the story. After shopping at the store where they were supposed to be, they decided I wouldn't be home yet and they could walk across the street and go to the pet store to check out the cute little animals. All the time I was hunting for them, they were across the street in the pet store! (Side note here: If they had called to ask permission, I would NOT have let them do that. It's a major road and I see accidents there almost every time I'm on it. My husband has been in one and I have near-misses there all the time. Yes, I trust my kids to cross the street with the signal in the crosswalk. No, I do not trust the drivers on that road. It's a crazy place. Overprotective? I didn't think so...but maybe.) Honestly, the pet store had never even crossed my mind as somewhere they would go.
-They get a few lectures: Turn on your phone. Text me if your plans change and you want to go somewhere different than you were supposed to. Check in occasionally. Stuff like that. They listen and say they are soooo sorry and feelreally bad. Sis checks her phone. It shows no missed calls. It shows no texts. I get mad at Verizon.
-Officer pulls up. He asks the girls, "Is this your mom?" (to which they probably wanted to say no at that moment!). He asks them for the story. Where were they? Why did they go somewhere they hadn't talked to me about? Did anyone try to take them? Were they trying to run away? Are they safe? He tells them to remember to take their phone, to check in (basically all the stuff I had just covered) and explains to them that when there are missing children the police drop everything and look for kids. It's a big deal, and a big use of resources. Make sure you are where you say you are going to be! He was super nice. Probably even more nice than I wanted him to be. But I was just so grateful it had all turned out well, and I was so happy that I didn't even get his name so I could send him a thank you note later. I will have to write one to the department in general. They were great.
-As we get in the van to drive home, the 3 texts come through on Sis' phone, all at once, an hour later than I sent them. Still no record of any missed calls, even today. We will visit Verizon store very shortly and make sure that is remedied. Why have a cell phone if it won't work?

We learned a lot of lessons: Go where you say you are going ONLY, and check in occasionally. If you want to go somewhere different, your mom is really nice and will probably say yes (unless it is crossing that awful road)- you just need to text her to make sure it's okay first. Have a working phone and make sure it's charged and working before you set out, even if it's just down the street. And while your children are young, as mine still are (I think), it's not the best idea to head off in different directions. I kept wondering what if there had been an accident or something and I am stuck in construction traffic and can't get to my kids? What if the police wouldn't even know who to contact because they had no ID on them? What if I had been in an accident and no one knew my kids were wandering around town?

At any rate, lessons learned. My kids had no clue anything was wrong, just the same way I did almost 30 years ago when I thought my parents were loony for getting upset that I was in the church parking lot in a car instead of inside at the dance where I was supposed to be.

We can laugh about it now. Not funny on Friday.