Familyprint
Have you ever heard the sound of a gut-wrenching scream? Today I heard myself scream with such fear that it was almost as if I was watching myself.
I took the kids to the park this morning with several neighbors. It is a gorgeous day…perfect temperature, a gorgeous blue sky, and and the kind of puffy, white clouds that photographers dream of. We laid out a blanket, let the babies crawl around, and watched the kids play. Gage kept trying to head to the ‘little kids’ section of the park so we asked the older kids to stay with him to prevent him from getting too far away.
Awhile later I asked Briggs where his brother was at which point he shrugged. So, my neighbor Beth went on the search. I wasn’t concerned at all until I saw her return without Gage in tow. Slight nervousness began to set in. I strapped the girls in the stroller and started searching (it is a BIG park).
At first, I was walking, calling out his name. We all were. We took different sections of the park. I am now very nervous. Briggs is crying saying he lost his brother. I told him to focus.
Then, I handed the girls off, took my flip flops off and started running toward the river. It is not even near the playground. In fact, none of us even looked that way. It is past the baseball fields and covered with large trees. I now remember that I took Gage there the last time we went to the park!
At this point, I am panicked. The gut-wrenching screaming begins as I am desperately calling out, “GAGE!”. No response. I am sprinting. I am crying. I am envisioning all of the horrible things you never want to even imagine happening to your child. And, I cannot even fathom calling Tim to explain to him how I lost our youngest son.
Finally, out of the bushes pops one of the older boys whom I thought was back with the search team. Gage is down the bank of the river trying to climb up. I keeled over at the sight of them. Unfortunately, at the same moment, one of my neighbors sees my reaction across the park and thinks the worst has happened. She didn’t realize I had found them…safe!
I haven’t added anything to my ‘Good Things’ list in awhile. So here it is… I am thankful first and foremost that Gage is safe. I am thankful that, while the big kid shouldn’t have let Gage get as far as he did, that he stayed with him. I am so glad he didn’t just let him walk off on his own. Most kids probably wouldn’t have given it much thought but he stayed right with him. I will forever be grateful. I am thankful that once he was missing I had my good friends with me to search for him and take care of the girls. I am thankful that one of my neighbors just held Briggs while we were searching. She said his heartbeat was beating rapidly because he was crying so hard. I am thankful that Briggs now realizes how much he truly does love his younger brother. I am thankful that I have a blog like this to express my feelings. And, I hope that when Tim reads it he will understand why I didn’t call him to tell him. I am thankful that Briggs is still young enough to say, “Well, at least they both had light sabers with them. In case they ran into any strangers they could hit them with their weapons.”
As soon as Briggs walked over to us, I asked us to pray…I thanked God that he was watching over us. I thanked him for keeping our family intact.
As I left, I realized what a significant imprint each child makes on a family unit…it would never be the same without everyone together. It is kind of a like a fingerprint but a familyprint…no family the same…each unique.
I once got lost in Burlington Coat Factory, to this day I have never been back. Very scary, scary for you and SCARY for Gage. Thank God everyone is okay.
xoxoxo,
Suzy
Suzy - July 12th, 2007 at 2:40 pmWOW, I am really looking forward to see and hang out with ALL of you this evening, it gave me chills reading this post.
Helena - July 12th, 2007 at 3:35 pmLove you all! Helena
I love you.
Stacy - July 12th, 2007 at 4:45 pmStacy
Obviously pleased everything worked out okay. A couple of years ago we lost Hattie in a store on the Champs Elysees when visiting Paris….really leaves a pit in your stomach. Unfortunately people there were not very helpful and we lost our place in line for lunch.
TRowe
TRowe - July 12th, 2007 at 6:45 pmoh my god oh my god oh my god…
Mary - July 12th, 2007 at 7:05 pmTiff remind me to tell you the story of the time I lost Sam (my middle boy) when he was about Gage’s age. When the squad cars (plural) had surrounded my house and the sheriff asked me for a recent photo, it hit home what I was dealing with and I went right down in my front yard- he was safe and sound and perfect. And yet, even thinking about it to this day makes my legs a little watery and my heart thankful. Sending safe and loving thoughts your way!!!!
I just love a happy ending. If you think loosing your own kid is bad, I can tell you that loosing someone else’s is worse. I guess that you won’t be going outside for the rest of the summer.
Aunt 9 - July 12th, 2007 at 10:02 pmI’m sorry I wasn’t there to help. I can’t run as fast as you, but I would have been close on your heels. God works in mysterious ways ,and he was watching over you and yours today. Maybe there was also a little help from Grace and Edna!
Jean - July 12th, 2007 at 10:32 pmYou were very brave. Love you, honey!!!
If that’s not proof that God is real than I don’t know what is. I pray for you and your family everyday.
Susan - July 13th, 2007 at 1:37 pmThis is a tough one for me. Feelings of nervousness, and guilt race through my mind as I read it. Knowing that I’m not there, and can’t get there - makes me very anxious and angry.
As I said in the television interview, looking ahead at combat (then and now) - I am not worried for my personal safety and I am confident in our capabilities as a unit. My “Achilles heel” and the ONLY thing that I worry about is our family. Tiffany is right, it’s our familyprint that is unique.
tim - July 13th, 2007 at 9:10 pmWhat a terrifying experience! I’m glad Gage is safe and sound. David had a similar moment last summer with Jaxon, 16 months at the time, and the cornfield next to our house (it was full of 6ft tall corn). By the time he had called me at work, he was in a full on panic and had also called 911. Luckily, Jaxon emerged on his own, giggling and thinking it a great game.
I think all parents must have a moment like this with a least 1 kid. And when you find them, you just wrap your arms around their little bodies and forget all about being irritated at them for wandering off and just thank God you got them back.
Heather Hearne - July 14th, 2007 at 12:19 pmohh my…I can’t imagine but I am glad there was a happy ending! I love the familyprint…every ones is different and unique!!! You are so right!
Allison - July 14th, 2007 at 11:21 pmFirst of all, I am so happy that Gage is OK. Unfortunately, I am sure all of us with kids have had this frightening experience as parents. I believe God is trying to give us a wake up call. Not only reminding us how precious our children are but also that maybe we need to look at the whole situation and decide if there is a better way of dealing with them so I can prevent them from happening again. Thank God he gives us a second chance to try and get it right!
Cathy - July 15th, 2007 at 1:00 pmGod is good.
Barbara B. Rowe - August 27th, 2007 at 9:44 pm[...] guess he figured it was just like in the park where I lost Gage. If you never read that post it was a [...]
Letters From Tim » Blog Archive » Parenting 101 - November 15th, 2007 at 12:50 am