The Lost Boy

It is a sad day in my life that I have to share a "lost child" story, but it happened. The tale has to be told. We LOVE our library and they have some really great things going on in the summer. So, naturally we go to the library activities a couple of times each week. Last week they happened to have a petting zoo. There were goats, rabbits, chickens, and a lamb. We had a great time and as you can imagine. Lots of our friends were there too, so after we got done with the animals the boys played, and I visited. Three of my friends and I stood at the edge of "the woods", which aren't really woods- just some sloped hills with lots of trees in a small area. The kids were running back and forth and then they were playing hide and seek. All the mom's were keeping an eye on all of the kids as they would pop in and out of this tree area.
Pretty soon this boy Jackson, in the yellow shirt above, comes and says, "We can't find Hunter!! We were playing hide and seek and he went to hide and we can't find him anywhere!"
At first I was thinking he just was in the middle of one of the bushes and wasn't coming out, so I circled the area two times and there was no Hunter. I ran to two other ladies I know and told them Hunter was missing and what he was wearing.
I frantically ran alongside a pretty long fenced in area of land around where we were. However, I knew that there were crosswalks at both ends of the fence so I just thought maybe someone ran fast and got away with him. I was so panicked, but tried to keep my cool. But, I just kept thinking about some dirty old man with my darling son, and how he'd never be the same Hunter again (If someone really had him). And how you can't report "missing persons" for 24 hours (at least on tv) what kind of stupid rule is that??
So I ran up to scary people and asked if they had seen a boy in an orange shirt and gray sweat pants, I just didn't know what else to do except run the perimeter of where he could be.
It felt like eternity, but it was probably 10 minutes, when someone came up to me and said, "We found him!"
What a relief!
He came running up this path to me. I didn't hug him first! I wanted to hear the story.

So, his story went like this:
"Mom, we were playing hide and seek and soon I couldn't see you, so I thought you left. I decided to go look and see if I could find the jeep and see if you were still here. So, I walked out to the parking lot (quite a way from where we were), and saw the jeep so I knew you were here somewhere."
I gave this cute boy a hug, and told him I would never leave him. I reminded him that Chance was still playing over with him too, and that I wouldn't EVER leave them!!
So, I'm sure you are dying to know how in the world I didn't see him and he didn't see me, when I was standing right by where they were playing.
The answer is this.....there was a big white truck parked to the right of me and he must have been at just the right angle to not see me and so he took off to the parking lot. I of course didn't see him walk past because he was on the other side of the truck.
Anyhow, to his defense it was a good idea to see if the jeep was still there (if he was a teenager). It wasn't a great idea to leave his brother if I would have been missing though :)

Hunter now has a new plan of action if he ever can't find me. He should stay in one place and find a grown up, with kids, and tell them he can't find his mom or dad.

Glad I found my lost boy!