I found you instead...

On Saturday, my husband's work had a wonderful family celebration.  It included a ton of inflatables, food, a band and all sorts of great things.  His company was celebrating 175 years in business.  It was a ton of fun...until, a slight mishap.

I should start by saying that my husband and I are hyper vigilant about the safety of our children.  We make sure that there is always an adult around them and many times we divide and conquer (you know, I take two, you take two to watch).  So this caught me completely off guard...

I had just taken the smaller two to the oh, so wonderful porta potty while my husband waited with the older two kids directly across from us in an open field.  The porta potties were right in the middle of a ton of inflatables and kid's craft tables.  So there were a boatload of people around us. 

When we got out of the door, I told my youngest to go find Daddy and proceeded to point to him directly in front of us across this big field.  Then, I helped our smallest girl wash her hands as well as mine.  That took a whopping 20 seconds at most.  When I approached my husband a second later, here's what happened next...

"Where is he?", he said holding up his hands.  "What do you mean?  You don't have him?"  I spun around and looked back at where we had just come from.  I looked back at my husband with sheer terror in my eyes and that's when he grabbed my hand.  "Stay calm.  Don't panic." 

My husband knows me all too well.  We are polar opposites...I am the complete freaker outer.  He on the other hand could probably stay calm if the earth were to implode.

As my husband went one direction, I took off running in the other direction screaming my son's name, scanning each and every little child in sight.  Oh my goodness, where could he go?  I ran in the other direction screaming and darting around people while checking in the nearby inflatables.  My heart was no longer in my chest...it was in my throat and about to explode.  Where was the national guard when you needed them?  Where was the swat team?  Where was the special air forces that could scan large crowds from the skies above?  I had lost my child and was on the verge of calling the president himself, when....

...the crowds parted, and there was my little one walking towards us searching the crowds for of all things...his father.  The one I told him from the beginning to go to across the field...his Daddy.

I ran with all my might, scooped up that little boy and squeezed him so tight.  "I can't find him."  He told me.  "That's okay", I said.  "I found you instead."  My husband approached and squeezed my hand again.  "You okay?"  "I'm just going to need a moment."  And then I finally exhaled.