Lost

Yesterday I had an experience that no parent ever wants to have. I lost Emily. Not only did she get lost but we were home when she went missing. Apparently, she didn't realize Ethan and I were upstairs and decided to look for us outside. Ethan and I came downstairs to a very quiet house without Emily. We looked all over the house without any luck and then headed outside. We walked halfway down the street, but no further as I honestly didn't think Emily would go so far by herself. When we couldn't find her outside, I started to panic - really panic. I knew she had to be somewhere near by - it had only been a few minutes - but I was starting to worry that she had gotten hurt somehow so that she couldn't hear or respond to us calling her name. After a second, more thorough look through every part of our house, we went back outside in search of Emily. At this point I was running around screaming her name and Ethan was just trying to keep up. I was just about to head over to the neighbor's for additional help looking when I saw Emily in the middle of the street all the way at the other end of block. She was bawling. I was bawling and I sprinted towards her leaving Ethan behind. When I finally reached my scared little girl, I scooped up her shaking body and held her so close. I can't imagine my life without her and I never want to. Of course, after we all calmed down, we had a talk about leaving the house and such. So today my kids are getting a little more strict supervision and a little more love.