Our household safety rules have usually been fairly simple. You know . . . no shooting your brother with the BB gun, no running with scissors, no going anywhere with strangers, that sort of thing. Well, we now have official rules for hide-and-seek. You'd think that would be a fairly safe game, but yesterday it caused the scariest hour of my entire life.
This weekend the kids and I went up to visit relatives in Pennsylvania for my cousin's graduation party. We had a great weekend spending time with aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. I'm very thankful we got to go!
But Saturday evening included an hour or so of very unwanted adventure. My aunt and uncle live on a huge piece of land, and their house is surrounded by fields and woods. We were all sitting around talking and eating, and the 20 or so kids were all playing in various places. I was on the porch and every few minutes I'd do a kid count to make sure all three of them were still within eyesight. Sometimes they'd go around the side of the house to the sand box and trampoline, but I could always find them pretty easily. Well, one time I looked up and noticed Jesse wasn't on the playground where he'd been swinging a few minutes ago, but Ethan and Tabitha were still there. After a few minutes I went to look for him by the sandbox but couldn't find him. There were some people playing volley ball up by the old barn, so I looked with them and in the barn. One of my cousins said she saw the little boys playing inside, so I figured he must be in there. But then I saw the other boys outside, so I figured I'd better go inside and make sure. He wasn't in the playroom or the boys' bedroom. I mentioned it nonchalantly to a couple of my aunts who were in the living room, and then I went back outside to make another round. I was getting a little confused, but figured I just hadn't looked everywhere yet. When I still didn't see him outside, I went back to check the house more thoroughly. This time my aunts spread the word, and I soon had a bunch of people checking all the bedrooms, closets, under beds, etc. By the time I came downstairs and no one had seen him I was starting to get concerned. My aunt saw me getting teary eyed, prayed quickly with me, and sent people off to check freezers, boxes, etc. Word spread quickly, and soon all the 50 or so people at the party were starting to look. As I went on another round of the property, I heard Jesse's name being called all over the place. People were checking the barn, the garage, the shed, the play areas, the dozens of cars. No one saw him. By this time I was really worried. My thoughts were a jumble. On the one hand, I figured we just hadn't thought of every place he could be--of course he's around here somewhere. On the other hand, I was remembering all those abduction stories and imagining myself as a parent of a kidnapped child and thinking about how I could never survive something like that. I had cousins taking care of Tabitha for me, and Ethan was helping to look. I really tried hard not to let him see that I was worried, but I could tell he was getting worried just by seeing all these people searching. My uncle called friends who had already left to make sure he hadn't hidden in a car and accidentally rode away with them. Several relatives and strangers took off through the woods and fields calling for him (and returning with lots of battle scars from the thorny plants they encountered). A couple of people drove their cars up and down the road to look. I felt so aimless, like I didn't even know what to do or where else to look. Another friend prayed with me, a few of my cousins were crying, complete strangers were offering words of encouragement. After a half hour or so of looking, we decided to call the police. They took his description and asked me a bunch of questions and told me local and state troopers would be on their way. They wanted me to print out a photo of Jesse before they got there, so I put a cousin to work on finding one online that we could use. I went out to talk to the police officer, and he asked all the kids if they had seen him, but none of them had anything very specific to add.
At this point I decided I needed to call Heath. I hadn't called him earlier because I didn't want to worry him over something I was sure would turn out to be nothing. But now I was thinking it might NOT turn out to be nothing. I went in the house and was just about to call him, when I heard voices shouting, "They found him!" I ran back outside and a man I didn't even know was carrying Jesse to me. He and my uncle had found him in the grass behind the shed. Several people had looked there several times, but hadn't seen him. He was crying (probably because of all the commotion and people yelling his name), and missing his shoes, but he wasn't hurt or anything. Just then the state police showed up. I felt bad having had them all come out for nothing, but of course I was mostly just relieved to have Jesse back! And I'm glad to know that the police were there for us if we'd really needed them.
After Jesse calmed down I was able to talk to him. And comparing notes between him and Ethan, here's the best that I can figure out of what happened: The boys had been jumping on the trampoline with the other kids, which is why he had his shoes off. Then they'd decided to play hide and seek (Ethan only remembered this after the fact of course). Jesse hid in the bushes behind the shed, and meanwhile Ethan got sidetracked by some other friends and started doing something else. Jesse, being over tired from staying up late and the weekend's festivities, fell asleep in the bushes, for what must've been close to an hour. Something awoke him (maybe a bug bite, because he said something pinched his arm), and he crawled out of the bushes. I think he must've woken up disoriented and hearing 50 people calling his name, and must've been afraid and started crying instead of coming out. By 10 minutes after all this he was totally back to himself, running around with the kids, eating food, playing with the balloons, and totally oblivious to all the stress he had caused. But I, for the rest of the evening, could not relax a bit. Every 5 seconds I was counting my kids and couldn't focus on anything else. After all the adrenaline of the event subsided, it left me absolutely exhausted.
When we got back to my other aunt and uncle's house and put the kids to bed, I told Ethan and Jesse the new rules for hide-and-seek. 1) No sleeping while hiding! 2) If you hear a grown-up calling your name, the game is over, and you must come out, and 3) If you are the seeker, YOU MAY NOT QUIT THE GAME UNTIL YOU FIND THE HIDER! I do have to admit though that Jesse is definitely the champion when it comes to hiding, that's for sure!
Looking back it's almost comical that he was about 20 feet from the house the whole time, right next to where several people had walked, while we were all panicking. Actually, no, I take that back. It's not comical yet. Maybe a few months from now it will be, but right now it's too recent, and my heart starts beating faster just remembering it.
After I'd calmed down enough I did call Heath and was very glad to be giving him good news instead of bad. I can tell you I have never been so scared in my life. And I have never been so thankful to see my children, and so grateful for the safety God has given them thus far in life. And I am so thankful for the many family, friends, and complete strangers, who offered support, prayer, time, and effort for my little boy. Even though he wasn't really in any danger this whole time, he certainly could've been. I am so very thankful to each of you who helped. And, God, thank You. Thank You for the caring, self-sacrificing people you place in my life. Thank You for my children. As much as I complain about them sometimes and gripe about the difficulties of parenting, they are priceless gifts, and I am so grateful for every moment You've given me with them.
To every parent reading this: Go hug your kids! And next time they want to play hide-and-seek, make sure they know the rules! Or better yet, just let them play lawn darts or something less stressful like that. ;-)
