PANIC!!!!

Does anyone know what it feels like to think your child has been abducted? Unfortunately that happened to me today and it was absolutely HORRIBLE. Everything turned out okay but for about 5 minutes I was panicking.

On Wednesdays Jordyn and Maegan walk home from school and are by themselves for about 10 minutes before I get there. As soon as I pulled in the driveway today Jordyn came running out and I could tell something was wrong the moment I saw her. She started crying saying that she didn't know where Maegan was and that she didn't walk home from school with her. I told her to get in the car and we'd go look for her. As we were driving back towards the school Jordyn said that Maegan's backpack was home and her fish tank was open. That had me confused. She had obviously been home so I figured I'd better start there. I turned around and went in the house and sure enough, it was obvious she had been home at some point. I thought maybe she was playing a joke so I started going through the house calling her name....silence. I started knocking on my neighbors doors and nobody had seen her. I was really starting to panic at this point and was thinking I had better call the police when Sean called. Since he works for Provo PD my first thought was "oh no" something has happened. Thankfully, he was calling to tell me that Maegan had called him saying that she was at the school and didn't know where Jordyn was so he was wondering what was going on. I told him I Jordyn was with me and I didn't know what had happened but I'd get it all figured out. What a RELIEF!!! I rushed to the school and sure enough Maegan was sitting in the office reading books. Jordyn was still crying because she was so upset and then Maegan started crying because she felt bad. After piecing together their stories this is what I think happened:

Maegan decided to wait for Jordyn in a different spot after school but didn't actually tell Jordyn. After waiting for a while Jordyn went back in the school to see if anyone had seen Maegan. Maegan, having not seen Jordyn, decided she'd go home to see if Jordyn was there. While at home Maegan put on a sweater, got a sweater for Jordyn in case she was cold (see, there's my sweet girl), looked at her fish tank and then started worrying that Jordyn had been kidnapped because she hadn't made it home yet and decided to walk back to the school to find her. Jordyn, after searching the school, decided to go home to see if Maegan had walked home by herself. Unfortunately, they both took a different route so they didn't see each other.

I decided that rather than get mad I would use this as a good opportunity to talk about safety and what to do if they really do get lost or kidnapped. Let's hope they don't ever have to actually put the information to use.

My sad little girls


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4 comments

Good thing she wasn't lost! That is always scary when you can't find your kids.

April 21, 2010 at 5:25 PM

Yes I know how that feels! Your girls are lucky to have each other! What a cute bond they have! Happy Birthday Buddha! Give her guts big hugs for me!

April 21, 2010 at 10:01 PM

Aww! What a cute story and picture!

April 22, 2010 at 8:17 AM

Scary!!!! I always tell my kids that if they walk home, they have take the same route everytime. That way we always know where to look if needed. I bet they were so scared that it was a really good lesson for them!

April 23, 2010 at 2:22 PM

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