Takin' a stroll...

So I thought I would write about an incident that we had a couple weeks ago...

I was packing up all our stuff getting ready to leave for Utah in a couple hours to drop the kids off at my folks house so Kregg and I could head off to Florida for a week. I went over to my neighbor Kat's house to drop off our keys so she could keep an eye out for us while we were out, and when I came back Mary was gone. I had left the garage door open.

I searched our house hoping that she might have just been hiding or fell asleep somewhere, but no luck. I searched through the neighborhood- looking in people's backyards and talking to neighbors and noone had seen her. My friend Kat was also looking for her. I got in my van and drove around trying to find her and still no luck. I have never been so scared in my whole life!!!!!!

After about 45 minutes I was really starting to freak out, and was wondering if I should call the police. But I never know how long to wait to call!! I decided that I would go take one more lap around the neighborhood and Kat would drive on the other side of the busy street to see if she had crossed and gone over there.

On my last lap around the neighborhood there was a cop driving down the street, so I stopped him and told him that I had lost my 2-year old. He asked me a whole bunch of questions about me- where I lived, what I had been doing, how long I had been looking, and calling it all in... I was like, "Enough about me- can we talk about my daughter???" He said that they had my daughter. I had never been so relieved EVER!! By now there were about 5 cop cars there. Then he said, "She's at the MesaView Hospital." I just froze... and started freaking out. He said, "She's okay... Are you aware that she is swollen all over her body????" Oh man- I said, "Yeah- she has Turner Syndrome!!" I was so relieved- I thought in my mind, I'm going to laugh about this tomorrow!

I guess what happened was that she decided to take a little stroll, and someone found her in the middle of a street just outside of my neighborhood. She picked her up and took her to the Lutheran church across the street, and they called the cops. The cops came out and everyone was concerned about her hands, so Mary got to take a joe-cool trip in an ambulance to the emergency room.

The cop came and searched my house, and asked me a bunch of questions about my kids, then I got to go pick her up from the ER. They had about 5 people huddled around her and a couple cops (remember this is a small town, outside of the casino's there's not a whole lot going on out here). But I'll never forget that moment when I got to give her a big hug and tell her how much I love her (even with a bazillion people watching you). None of them seemed to know anything about Turner's (look it up! You're a hospital!!). They were very concerned that Mary got into the car of the lady who picked her up, went to everyone at the Lutheran church, sat on the lap of the cop the whole way to the hospital, and cooperated with everyone at the ER. That scares me too, that she would go to anyone... but what do you do? She's 2! Especially Mary who is the socialite of the town. I thought everybody knew her!!

The cop asked me why I didn't call them. I just wasn't sure when it was okay to call- you always hear about that they can't do anything until a certain amount of time had gone by. He told me to just call next time the minute you notice they are missing- mental note for all of you out there!!

The police officers really did a wonderful job- I'm glad that they were right on top of the whole thing. But I think what I probably need to do is get Mary an ID bracelet or something so that it will keep me from taking another unneccessary(sp??) trip to the ER.

I also decided that I am the kind of mom who reacts first, then freaks out later. I think that really helped me in this situation. Just find her... and you can break down later!!!

Anyway- I know that Heavenly Father was there with me and with Mary through this whole ordeal, and am eternally grateful to Him. We are so blessed!!!!!