Forgotten after Memorial Day

We’ve been staying at the lake house since Thursday. The Huey family has been in town and we’ve been playing on the water with them. Memorial Day weekend was a record breaker for the lake. More people than ever came out to party as social distancing regulations have been softened. We are still expected to stay 6 feet away from other people and keep groups small, but more and more people seem to be ignoring those recommendations and the lake was packed. 

Tuesday, the day after Memorial Day, our family went to Jefferson City for the day to work, get the air conditioner fixed in the Yukon, renew drivers licenses and go to a couple of doctors appointments. At the end of the day, Justin and the boys piled in the truck to head back to the lake while Eden and I caught a ride with Chris to the car dealership to pick up the Yukon. From there, we went to Walmart to pick up some cake decorating supplies for a YW Zoom activity. As we perused the Wilton decorating tips and frosting bags, I received the following text from the phone we keep stationed at the Jeff City house: 

“dadjs793scsfrd Yf4gtmGtmudadjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj”

The house should have been empty. Yet I immediately knew the text had to be from Lars. I instantly remembered that Justin had been looking for our five year old just before leaving the house maybe 30 minutes earlier and I assumed that he had found him and taken him to the lake in the truck. Apparently I was wrong. 

I called the home phone and Lars answered. 

“Are you home alone?” I asked. 

He wailed the answer, “Yeeeeeesssswaaaahhhh” 

I kept my voice calm as I attempted to soothe him over the phone. I told him I was going to call Dad to see if he was still close to the house. I asked Lars if he knew how to turn on the t.v. 

“Not really,” he whimpered. 

I assured him I’d call Dad and then call him right back to make sure he was okay. I hung up and called Justin while I speed-walked toward the parking lot. Justin was already out of town. I called Lars to tell him I was on my way and that I was so proud of him for doing exactly the right thing. He told me he had figured out how to turn on the t.v. so he was okay. When I got to the house, Lars was happily watching cartoons and seemed fully recovered from this traumatic episode. The end. 

Once again, the experience has a happy ending. And once again, I am left playing and replaying all of the “what if” scenarios that could have so easily occurred. What if Lars hadn’t texted? What if he didn’t know how to work the phone or didn’t have the idea in the first place? What if we didn’t notice him missing until after we had finished our Walmart shopping and driven all the way to the lake an hour away? What if by then we didn’t realize he was in Jefferson City? What if we thought he went missing somewhere at the lake? We might have spent hours or days looking in the wrong location. What if he hadn’t texted? I’m so proud of my smart boy. It feels like we’ve had too many of these kind of close calls lately. Are we becoming less responsible as parents? I don’t remember losing children quite so often in the past. But I am again extremely relieved and grateful that things turned out alright in the end.