little girl lost

Tonight we went to Sallie's school for a back-to-school concert, complete with hot dogs, snow cones, really loud music and a million kids running around the lawn and two playgrounds. Trent was helping a friend rebuild his front porch, so it was just the girls and me. It started off just fine..the girls waited in line with me to buy dinner, and then we met some new friends and found some old friends on the lawn. After dinner, things became more hectic. Reagan was the first one to wander off. She has always been pretty good about staying with me, but not tonight. The school has two playgrounds, an older one with tall, handmade wooden equipment with lots of places for kids to hide, and a smaller, newer one that has better visibility. The first time she disappeared was just a tease...I found her fairly quickly. Then she decided to one-up herself, and disappeared on the older, scarier playground. After looking everywhere on both playgrounds, I found her wandering around on the lawn. Not crying. And apparently unaware that she had lost me. Kind of scary!

Then, just as I decided to pack the girls up and head home because it was too stressful for me to keep up with all three of them amongst the 500 or so kids that were also enjoying the playgrounds, I lost Eliza. Not wanting to lose the other two, I picked Reagan up, and held Sallie's hand, and calmly (then frantically) searched both playgrounds, calling her name the whole time. Just as a real sense of panic began to set in, I ran into a friend's husband, who said that they had just announced her name over the loud speaker. (Which you couldn't hear from the playgrounds). So, Sallie, Reagan and I ran over to retrieve her from the woman who had found her, asked her for her name, then carried her over to the microphone so that they could make an announcement for me, and then held her (she was crying) until I got there. Then I had one of those delayed reactions where you realize just how panicked you really were, where your voice starts to crack and tears well up in your eyes as you're trying to tell the principal of the school that yes, this is your little girl lost.

I've always said that I don't panic when my kids wander off for a minute. Tonight served as a good reminder that sometimes, a little more caution, a touch of panic, can be a good thing, especially in today's world. I realized that our smaller, family-run Montessori school and our extremely friendly neighborhood have caused me to become a little too complacent. And so, a reminder to be more protective of my three little girls was actually a good thing.

It also reminded me that it's always a good idea to communicate a plan to your children in case they should become separated from you. Even if you don't think they're old enough to remember it. I had left our picnic blanket on the lawn, and if I had just thought to tell them to meet me there if they were lost, it may have saved us all from the untold anxiety that we (especially Eliza...ok, both of us) suffered. Another idea worth sharing is that a friend of mine always reminds her young children to find a mommy with kids to ask for help. The idea being, of course, that a mother with kids would be a safe person to approach. Luckily for me, a mother found Eliza tonight, and I was extremely grateful for her help.

The Back-to-School Concert (in happier times!)