It was my husband.
DH: "You better come home right now."
Me: "Why?"
DH: "I can't find Andrew."
Me (screaming): "WHAT?!?"
DH: "I was washing off the lawn mower and I lost sight of him for a minute and he was gone."
I run out the door, telling the receptionist I have to run home because Andrew is missing. I get to my car and go screeching out of there, hitting almost 90 MPH on the Interstate (I know, not smart, but desperate times call for desperate measures). I got home in 3 minutes (normal commute home is about 6).
I get home, totally expecting to find my husband holding Andrew.
He is searching for him in the neighbor's yard (our backyard leads to it). I ask him if he has called 911 yet, and he hasn't, so I call them.
My first 911 call, and I'm not too great at it, but I manage to get the words out that my 20 month old son is missing, I give them my address and a description of Andrew (white-blonde hair, wearing a blue shirt). I tell them no, that he wasn't in the house (he LOVES being outside and throws a fit every time we try to take him back inside).
They say to stay in the yard and the officer would be right there.
Screw that, I'm going to look! So, I start searching. As I'm frantically running around, I see a couple of hot construction workers and they say they will help me--I give a description of Andrew and tell them his name. Thank heavens for nice people! A few other neighbors get wind of what's going on, so they help with the search. I call my mom at work as I'm looking, and she makes her way over from work.
Two police cars and the Sherrif show up, as well as First Responders. We now have about 10 people on foot, as well as several police officers from surrounding towns. I learned later that they called up police officers from 3 surrounding towns, and they were going to send a search dog.
About 20 minutes into the search, I see my hubby coming down the street with Andrew in his arms.
I told him, "WE'RE DONE." I was so mad. However, he felt bad about what happened, and I could tell he was scared.
I am so glad Andrew was okay! He wandered down past about 6-7 houses, and ended up on the front step of one of the newly constructed duplexes. The people there then gave him to DH.
He went FAR! Even the police officers didn't think he'd get that far. I knew in my heart that he was okay, because I didn't get any bad feelings. It felt so good to have him in my arms. I can't believe how great everyone was to help us. Thank goodness we don't live in a major city.
We live near two streets that can get pretty busy. Luckily, he just stayed on our street. The time of day helped too--not too many cars crusing down it at 10:00/10:30 a.m.
I just keep thinking of the horrible things that could have happened. He could have been hit by a car or someone could have kidnapped him. He is damn cute, after all. This is him tonight.
PS, we're putting up a fence in our backyard--we were going to anyway, but now we're really going to. This boy likes to run.
12 comments:
OMG I would flip! I can't imagine not knowing where Mason was, I know you were terrified! Try not to blame the hubby too much, you know deep down inside he feels guilty as hell. If it were you, but of course I know MOMMYS dont let those kind of things happen LOL, you wouldn't want him to make you feel worse than you already did. Thank God Andrew is ok!! You are probably going to make the local news ya know! lol
p.s.- I did kind of have to laugh at the label for your post.."fugitive" haha! :)
OMG that's scary. Thank goodness he's alright. These little boys are too brave for their own good (Lex will take off to the park if i don't keep my eyes on him or him contained in the front porch). You tell Mr Andrew I said he's not allowed to give his parents a scare like that.
omgosh! I am so scared of this when we are outside with B because we often do just that.... take our eyes off him for 1 minute.
Make sure your fence goes low enough to the ground- Brady likes to run to the neighbors, go under thier low fence and go by thier swing set. Little devil.
I am sure DH feels just horrible! It really could happen to anyone, thank god Andrew is safe. Go easy on him! I worry about this sort of thing at daycare- it isnt fenced, and it is in a very private neighborhood. The lot is huge- however, just a few hundred yards down the hill into the woods is a creek.
Did you make the local news?
LOL, nope, we didn't make the news. I would imagine had the search gone longer, someone probably would have showed up from the news crew.
Thankfully, we had him back safe in our arms.
Also, after I initially got mad at DH, I did forgive him. He feels so bad about this whole thing!
holy shit. I've never lost my kids (yet) but I can imagine the terror. I have turned around to not find them for a moment, only to find them within a minute, but I know how scary that minute is. That phone call must have been just the worst. Wow.
What a nightmare!! I'm glad you found him okay! We just got a fence for that reason...Caden hasn't taken a "fieldtrip" yet because he's chicken like his mommy but Addison...yea once she can walk there'll be no stopping her...girls fearless!
I'm so glad you found him and he's okay.
Even after 14 years, I went on a walk with DS, about 4 houses from home, DF pulled up on the motorcycle, I hopped on and DS took off to go the rest the way home as we went around the block.
When I got home, his bike was gone, his shoes were gone, I called out to him, he was no where.
30 min of DF and I driving around the neighborhoods in separate vehicles, and me bawling. I went home, walked around back of the house, and DS was right there watching TV on the patio, with his bike right next to him, Mucnhing on potatoe chips (clueless).
I about died - grabbed a hold of him so tightly. He had no clue we were even searching for him.
There just never comes an age where we stop worrying.
I wonder what I'm going to do when DS moves out and he doesnt answer his phone.
I now have compassion for DF' mom when she calls 15 times a day until DF answeres the phone.
Thank you, everyone. It was certainly the most terrifying day of my life. I hope to never top it.
OMG! I was scared reading your post & he's not my kid. I can't imagine what you were going through. Glad it had a happy ending.
Ohhh MY GOD. I think I had 2 panic attacks, just reading that! I am so glad he was OK. It's amazing how fast they can vanish when you turn your back for just a second.
I'm so Sorry to hear about this. How scary it must've been. I felt my anxiety rise just reading it.
The other day my husband was out in the living room doing whatever and making phone calls and I was in the shower and Michael said he looked over and Lincoln was outside in the driveway and cole was by the car. and the side door was WIDE open. it made me so sick to my stomach just to even THINK about it. so we're either getting a Chain Link or one of those door alarms for the kids so we KNOW if they open the door again.
I'm sorry that had to happen to both you and your DH and Andrew. I'm so glad he wasn't hurt.
Oh my LORD, even though I was sure this ended fine, I got goosebumps all through-out your post! SO SCARY!!! I'm glad he is okay and safe and sound at home. Your husband must have been horrified!
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