Over 18 years of parenthood, I’ve had many scary moments, close calls and “oh crap” moments. I admit, I’ve occasionally lost track of a child here or there. I mean, it’s easy to do when there are half a dozen of them, and I do tend to take them a lot of places. But today was my first experience dialing 9-1-1 and sputtering the words, “I need to report a missing child.”
It was a breezy, overcast day at the beach. I had been happily building sand castles with Kade and Lars on the shore. After a while, Kade left my side to go play in the water. Justin was already in the waves with the four older kids so I thought nothing of it. Kade is a strong swimmer. He is a cautious kid with a good sense of self preservation. He wouldn’t just wander off. But when I looked up several minutes later, I saw that Justin was pretty far out, and I only counted four other heads bobbing in the water with him. I scanned the horizon. I squinted and searched up and down the shore. It was a small, sparsely populated beach. And Kade was nowhere to be seen. I waved my arms at Justin to get his attention. He swam to shore with the four teenagers. I asked when he had seen Kade last. He said hadn’t seen him since he left the shore. Justin suggested maybe Kade was in the bathroom and went to check there while the rest of continued to walk up and down the beach. The minutes ticked by. It didn’t make sense. He wouldn’t just wander off. But he wasn’t on the beach. He had to be in the water. But we couldn’t see him anywhere. Justin came back from the bathroom. No Kade. We looked up and down the shore again. Finally, not knowing what else to do, I asked Justin, “Is this when we call the police?” He nodded and I dialed.
Justin ran to inform the parking attendant at the beach entrance. She notified the Coast Guard. Visions of search parties combing the beach played on my mind. Where on earth could Kade be? If he had been caught in a current and drowned, how would we even begin to swallow that reality? I prayed in desperation. Please let my little boy be okay. I felt so sick. So empty. A few people on the beach caught on to what was happening, asked if they could help, and began to look for Kade. I mostly stayed in one place and tried to keep Lars and Eden from wandering off and getting lost too. Just as I heard the police sirens pulling into the parking lot, one of the men helping us look hollered to me from further down the beach, “They found him!” I didn’t quite understand. What? Where? Down the beach? We already looked there. I peered down the shore and saw Justin, Brock and Austin walking back with Kade in tow.
Kade had only been playing in the waves, which slowly kept pushing him further and further down shore until he couldn’t see me, became disoriented and thought he needed to go even further down shore to find me, taking himself farther from sight. I can’t even begin to describe the relief I felt knowing he was safe! I quickly called the police department back to tell them our son had been found. Then I took Kade with me to the beach entrance to thank the police officers who had just arrived and tell them our good news. A few minutes after that, a red Coast Guard helicopter circled the beach overhead. Such drama!
Some moments in life just really make everything else disappear, clarifying once again that the only things that really matter are the things that really matter. Tonight I am saying prayers of gratitude, counting my many blessings and naming them one by one.
0 comments:
Post a Comment