A Momma's Drama

Two weeks ago I lost Creighton and got the police called on me. That was a rather traumatic experience. I had Keelian asleep inside and was playing outside with the boys. I went in to check on her and grab something and was gone only about two minutes. When I went back out I couldn't see Creighton. My first thought was that he'd ran down to the end of the condo property to throw rocks in the creek, so I jogged down to the broken gate but didn't see him - thank goodness he hadn't gone down there and fallen in! So then I started checking all of the stairs. By then I was starting to panic and had Stratton helping me too. I still couldn't find him and he wasn't answering. I saw a vehicle turn around in our condo parking lot and the thought crossed my mind that someone had taken him. I really started to worry.

Then I heard him crying. I could just hear it every few seconds or so. It was a serious cry. That made me really freak out. I had visions of someone hurting my baby and I could hear it but I didn't know where to look. I started heading out to go up the driveway and check the street when I saw Creighton come running down the driveway, followed by two women. One was on the phone describing our condos and location and the other one was Creighton's nursery leader.

What had happened was that this other lady was driving down Vine street and saw this little boy running down the street all by himself, so she pulled over (it was her vehicle I'd seen turn around in our parking lot) and went to get him. He freaked out and started crying, running away from her. At this point Carla looked out her window and saw Creighton being chased by a woman, looking too scared for her to just be a grandma playing with him. So Carla went out and talked to her, explained that he was in her primary class and I just lived back behind her, but the lady still insisted on calling the police, I guess.

I was surprised he had run up there. He'd never done that before by himself - only when we had taken walks together. He was good and scared by the experience though. I hope it traumatized him as much as it did me. We went in the house and sat on the couch and he just let me hold him for a long time while I sobbed out of relief. After a few minutes there was a knock at the door. It was a police officer. He was just there to make sure it wasn't a "drunken mother situation". How embarrassing! He got my name, date of birth, phone number, Cratey's date of birth, and asked how he got out, etc. I'm sure I now have a criminal record - negligent mother - down at the Murray police station. The whole thing was just awful - it ruined my whole day.