A Mothers Panic

This weekend, Adam and I packed food with Feed My Starving Children. It was a great time and by the end of our session we had all packed enough meals to feed 73 children for a year! That was awesome!

Here is where my panic began…

I went to pick up Chloe from the Sunday school – Preschool room. I get there and ask for Chloe, “No Chloe here” is what I was told, try the next room. I go to the next room, thinking the kids in there look a little old….”no Chloe here” is what they told me.

I go look around (we were on another church campus so I didn’t know my way around very well) to see if there are other classes…there are none. I go back to the preschool room, I ask again “are you sure there is no Chloe here” she says no again. She asks me to tell her what Chloe was wearing.

This is when I start to feel the surreal feeling of “this is not happening” I felt like I was having an out of body experience. “She is wearing a jean jumper with pink tights and a patterned turtleneck with a blue background, brown mary-jane shoes…she has curly hair.”

Well, let’s look in the nursery said the preschool teacher… I am walking and I am sure I have the look of utter terror at this point.

We get to the nursery, and there is no Chloe. I yell for Adam who was picking up Evan in the nursery, he didn’t hear me.

At this point the preschool teacher turns around and announces that we have a “missing child”….and then the teacher starts to panic. I find myself telling her “If we don’t stay calm, we will not be effective” while I am choking back tears.

At this point others are catching on there is a problem and they are dividing and searching for Chloe. I walk back into the classroom, to look better….

As I walk in the classroom I look to my left and there is Chloe sitting in the corner playing leggo’s, completely oblivious to the fact that anyone was looking for her. She saw me and ran to me “mommy, look what I made you.” I have NEVER been so happy to see her!

I know that the preschool teacher felt horrible, I was not angry with her. However, I have never experienced panic to that degree in my life. The rest of the day I kept thinking of all the mothers who didn’t have that happy ending…. It makes me sick to think of.

Give your babies extra kisses and hugs, and in those times when you have had it up to your eye balls, think about if you didn’t have them!

Cheers,
Beth