Yesterday, we had a bit of an emergency. A BIG emergency. We got a swingset on Craigslist last week for $25, and Trey had just put it up. The kids wanted desperately to go play on it. I had Cole and was going to get ready. TJ went on out, and Taryn followed. I thought Trey was on his way out as well, but he didn't go out for a minute or two. Somehow, in that couple of minutes, Taryn managed to haul ass out of the yard, and on her way through the neighborhood. Trey went out to play with them, and came back in a minute or so later saying he couldn't find Taryn. I thought he was messing with me, as he is known to do, so I didn't hurry in getting dressed. A couple minutes later, he yelled back into the house that he really couldn't find her. I was done dressing by then, so I took Cole, and we began to scour the yard and the block or so around the house. I mean, she's got short little legs, so surely she couldn't have gotten that far, right? Trey looked as well, and once he realized that she was nowhere near the house, took off in his car to search the neighborhood. I remember thinking that maybe some evil creep had just happened to have the opportunity of a lifetime and seen a tiny little girl he could sell on the black market wandering the street, right as he drove by my house. Then I remember thinking about the dirt road behind our house (which is not separated by a fence), and how people drive wayyyyyy too fast down it, and how she could have been thrown hundreds of feet if hit and the driver not even known it. I checked the road, no Taryn to be seen. I noticed there was a ditch along the other side of it, but thankfully there was a sad attempt of flimsy chicken-wire blocking it. I didn't want to think of the possibility of her falling in and drowning, although I did. After a few minutes, Julia arrived w/her kids, as they were heading over w/lunch and to play on the swingset. I told Julia as she drove up that Taryn was missing, and she immediately jumped out of the car looking for her and asked me if I had called the police yet. No, I hadn't...for that matter, the thought hadn't even crossed my mind. I was surprisingly calm and collected. Inside I remember panicking a little bit, and wanting to run and scream and look for her, but telling myself that I couldn't. I didn't want TJ to freak out, I had to hold Cole or he would cry, thus making the situation harder, and I wanted to be able to think. Sadly, aside from looking everywhere I could and calling her name, I don't know that I was really thinking all that much. I keep wondering if it surprised the emergency dispatcher on the phone that I was very calmly telling her what Taryn looked like, and that I almost didn't sound affected at all. Julia was rushing around and outwardly worrying, and I was cracking jokes. I knew everything would be fine, and kept pushing all those bad thoughts out of my mind. However, with each passing minute that she wasn't found, it bothered me more that I wasn't showing my worry b/c in my imagination I just knew something bad was going to happen.

Trey showed up after driving around for what seemed like forever, and still hadn't seen her. I wanted to stay near the house in case she showed up. Plus, the cops were on their way, so I had to be there. Once they got there, they said a woman had called from another street in the neighborhood (or so we thought) that had found a little girl. They kept asking me if she had a Dora shirt on and a skirt. No, she had denim shorts on and Dora shoes. Over and over again they said this till I was sure this must not be my child. If so, then, how on earth could someone else in the neighborhood have lost a little two-ish girl at the exact same time, who just happened to have Dora on her? Finally, they went over and saw her, and it was in fact her. They came back the same time that Trey did, and he drove over and got her. It turns out that the street she was found on was actually near the back-end of the neighborhood behind ours. Walking on the streets, it would have taken us about a half hour to forty minutes to walk there at a normal pace. She was gone about 30 minutes in total, and that includes the time she spent w/the woman who found her. Trey said she had to have gone through two yards, through gates, and through a big, deep gully to get to where she was at! The woman said that when she saw her, she was walking along carrying her shoe in her hand, saying, "Shoe". In retrospect, it seems like she was gone for days.

When she got home, she was completely unaffected. She was mad b/c we didn't have a drink waiting for her, but that's about it. We all gave her a stern talking to, and her response was, "Eat." Trey asked her why she did it, and she said, "Shoe". My guess is that she saw a kitty cat and chased it. I can't imagine why she would be so set on running off like that. Don't get me wrong, she loves to run off, but usually she only goes far enough to get you to have to chase her, then runs more for the fun of it. There was no one chasing her this time, and she was hauling ass! It scares the bejeesus out of me that she managed to get far enough away to not be found in just a couple of minutes. I always knew kids were capable of crazy stuff, but man! What's funny is that the day before Trey and I had been arguing about putting up a gate in the back. I told him that as long as we keep an eye on them we don't need one. I lost that argument yesterday, and this weekend one is going up. TJ was always too scared to go more than a couple of feet away from us, so I'm not used to Taryn's see-ya-later ways. She sure found a way to get us used to it fast, though, eh!

Anyway, that's the big news around here lately. We're bad parents, and we're being forced to learn our lessons the hard way. Thank God, though, that nothing happened to her. I am blessed in that respect. I have other news about the job, but I'm waiting to find out something first, then I'll tell all. I hope you have a great day, and I'll see you later.