An Almost Tragedy

This post goes along with yesterday's post, and it's all The Lovely One's fault.  She told a story about a little girl getting lost outside at night.  Stories like that chill me to the bones!  As a parent, I've had one similar occurrence, and it still turns my stomach.

We were vacationing in Myrtle Beach a few years ago.  My brother-in-law owns a house down there and lets us rent it when he's not using it.  It was Spring Break time, so Baby Girl must have been about a year and a half.  It was the last day of our vacation and I was getting the house cleaned up nicely for my in-laws. 

Ten minutes away was the only Dunkin' Donuts in the area.  Hubby made a point of going there every day for a coffee.  (He's a tad spoiled.)  Baby Girl was (and still is) obsessed with her Daddy.  When he left that morning, she wanted to go with him.  He thought he successfully snuck out, but she noticed.  I was in the bedroom packing and cleaning and she opened the door.  The house sits back off the road a bit, which is busy with traffic.  Directly across the street is a tennis club.  Looking for her Daddy, Baby Girl wandered outside and started to follow him. 

In the meantime, I noticed she wasn't around.  I started looking for her, calling out her name.  No answer.  Something sparked me to look outside. There she was, in the middle of the road, with some man standing next to her.  Dear God, just typing that makes my hands shake.  Some men who were finishing up their tennis match noticed her in the road alone.  The guy was apparently afraid to touch her, so he just stood there next to her, looking around and blocking traffic.

I was in my pajamas with my hair in curlers.  I ran outside, scooped her up with trembling hands, and thanked the man over and over.  I was mortified and scared out of my mind.  I'm sure those guys think of the lunatic mother who can't keep track of her kids every time they pull out of their club.

The drive home from vacation would have been a lot, lot worse if we were making the trip with one less family member.  Thankfully, that's another story with a happy ending.