Yesterday Ka'ihi and I went to church by ourselves (Kamuela was still in Japan). I was pretty pleased with myself for going, usually I think it's too hard and I just stay home. But Ka'ihi loves going to nursery and seeing all the "keiki" (as he calls them) and I don't want to leave the other nursery leaders hanging if I can help it. So we went.
Everything was great! We were ready early, got to church around 8:40am (as opposed to our usual 8:58) and had a good time. But at the end of the day I found myself on my own in the nursery room and having to clean up everything with Ka'ihi. I left the door open so I could see him and went to put things in the cupboard outside. When I turned back around, I couldn't see him. I looked in the room and he was gone.
I got that feeling. You know the one where your adrenaline starts pumping and you have a cold, sick dread starting to grow in your stomach? I ran outside - there were crowds of people EVERYWHERE. I was pushing them out of the way so I could look for a short kid tottering around in a brown onesie. (He had peed his other clothes an hour before, thereby being the first to soil the brand new carpet in the nursery room. Winner!)
I was so scared, and panic was setting in. The room is right at the front of the Tabernacle, and there are 3 directions he could have gone, one of which was straight onto a 4-lane road. I was praying pretty heavily at this point and raced out to check there first. When I couldn't see him, I had one clear thought - go back to the nursery room. I obeyed before logic set in and reminded me I had already looked there. I ran inside and yelled his name, and out from behind the cupboard door popped my son, with a calm "yeah?"
Relief flooded over me and I fell to my knees and hugged him as tight as I could. I was so grateful I said a hundred prayers of thanks, while explaining to Ka'ihi how I was so worried and glad he was ok and don't he dare do that again (all the while trying not to burst into tears). A couple of my friends came to see if I was ok, they had seen me frantic and guessed I was looking for my son. I was comforted to know that they had noticed and would have helped if I'd needed, or grabbed him before he got hurt.
Anyway, lesson learned, that's for sure. No matter what needs to be done, nothing is more important than taking the time and precautions to keep my son safe first. Even if the nursery stuff gets left out next time.
A stereo can easily be replaced. A child's life? Not so much.
Oh my gosh...I felt my adrenaline start pumping just READIING you account!! Every parent's NIGHTMARE!!
ReplyDeleteBeen there...Can you believe that once we lost Bethany at DISNEYLAND?!?! She must've been about 2 because Kehau wasn't born yet, but we were still young parents with four little kids. Most TERRIFYING 5 minutes of my life! We actually bought one of those baby leashes (!) for the rest of the trip [though we never used it again afterwards]
Anyway, glad Ka'ihi was safe. You're a very good and diligent-"watching" mum. :)
I think EVERY parent has been there at least once. Tamahere(?) got lost in the mall when he was really little - he actually RAN out of the store as the clerk was passing me my change. I saw it all but he disappeared in the crowd. That's when I threw society's opinions aside and bought my first leash. Jerry hated it but there's so much crazy anxiety that kicks in with that kind of situation so I didn't care! Figured, any mother would understand. Ought to dig that baby out...
ReplyDeleteAnd I remember USING the leash with Beth in Disneyland... when she was 14. I kid. I kid. She was only 12...
I didn't know about Beth! That is definitely terrifying. Disneyland is so huge, crowded and there are so many dangerous places! Scary.
ReplyDeleteYah I have a leash for Ka'ihi too, but I never thought I'd have to use it at church! LOL Hoku. You might need to use it on the boys when they get to high school......