Moments

There are moments in life that make your stomach literally sink and your heart stop. I have to say those moments are far and few between, but they forever etch a memory in your mind. Memory isn't quite the word because you don't just remember them, you can feel what you felt at that time. I have had several, and all have been related to my family. One was the time when Brad left on his mission. Others have been with my several miscarriages. Another was when Ryan was lost at the county fair at age 2 1/2. Well, yesterday we added another to the "photo album".
We were enjoying a wonderful day at Lagoon for Brad's work party. Once the kids warmed up to it they really had a good time and didn't want to leave. Yet, by 9:30 pm we were all exhausted and decided it was time to depart. As we were heading out to the exit Brad suddenly realized Ashlyn was not with us. We looked around and sure enough she was not there. Brad then went running back to where we had made a turn to the exit and she was not there. By then I started panicking. It was dark, we were close to the exit. What if someone took her and got out of the park without anyone knowing. We were so close that it could have happened. Well, Brad went looking some more and I went to security. I was hoping she was in there with some nice person, but she wasn't. My heart stopped once again. I tried to calmly ask what to do if I lost a child. They told me to fill out this paper and they would radio all of their personelle to look for her. As I was filling it out a lady that worked at Lagoon walked in with Ashlyn. She wasn't crying, and I did everything I could to not cry myself. She had missed the turn and kept walking. This nice employee said Ashlyn didn't know my name or cell phone number so she brought her here. What a HUGE blessing.
Let me tell you, I hate these moments. The fear is so real....even if it was for only 5 minutes. It seems like an eternity. The worst part is if you allow yourself to think....what if? I have not in this instance. I just can't. I am just so grateful it worked out just fine and that I have my moody, emotional, loving, destructive, darling, kissable, lovable Ashlyn. Today, she can't do any wrong in my book. I guess maybe we have those moments just to remind us #1-keep a better eye on your little kids and #2 to remember just how much we do love them!!!

BTW-The security people recommend when you are going to a large theme park or a place with a lot of people to take a black permanent marker and write your name and cell phone number on their arm someplace. It may look funny, but that could have saved me some grief and worry.

Summer update

So, I am even worse at blogging than I am at journal writing....well, not quite. This summer hasn't been a huge one for us. We have just been living life around here. There have been some fun things like Brad's 30th birthday and the Bell Family Reunion. My pictures are on Brad's computer so I will update those shortly. I am hoping once this summer ends, which is on Monday, things will settle down. Probably not. I will be teaching 26-27 students this year, teaching an intro to music choir class for 3-4 year olds with a friend, and I am doing a benefit concert in October for a little neighbor girl (more of this to come). Oh, did I mention I have four children, a home, and a husband to take care of? Hmmm....yeah, so I guess I probably won't be blogging for the next millenia...please forgive me. Anyway, keep up on all of your good blogs because I do like to see what you are up to.