The scare of my life

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Member since 11/05

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The scare of my life

I'm still pretty shaken up Chat Icon

If anyone knows my posts, I am the most careful parent. I always think "what is the bad thing that can happen here" in every situation. I get mad at parents who do negligent things - not so much abusive things - but things that show they weren't thinking.

I was one of those parents today Chat Icon

We were parked at a shopping center. I had 2 bags in my hand, Cailen in my other hand. As we approach my car, I notice on the driver side, in the back, someone scraped against the bumper and left a huge scratch. I was p issed and said "Oh no!!!"

Cailen asked me what was wrong. I said "Look! Someone bumped into Mommy's car!"

As we were walking to his side of the car (the side where his car seat is - the passenger side of the car), he was talking to me, telling me "That's not nice Mommy!"

I told Cailen it was an accident, etc, and while talking I opened up front door on the passenger side, put the 2 bags in.

Now, Cailen ALWAYS stands right next to me when I do this. Always. He knows the parking lot rules. They are drilled into him. He stands right next to me ALWAYS.

In the 2 seconds that I put the bags in the front seat, and turned to pick him up to open his door, he was gone.

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I panicked immediately. My mind raced to places I can't even think about again. I screamed his name bloody murder....

It turned out that he was so fascinated with what happened to my car, he went to go look at the scratch. He must have run over to look. I still can't even think about what would have happened if a car passed us when that happened. Or if he fell. Or if someone took him. Or anything.

He never runs away from me. He isn't a wanderer. This kid is such a rule follower, and I took it for granted.

He came back to me immediately and really did not think he did anything wrong - he looked so confused.

I picked him up and couldn't even talk. I started sobbing uncontrollably. He asked me what was wrong.

Between sobs I told him he can NEVER walk away from me. That I looked down and he was gone and I was so scared.

His reply (as he wiped my tears with his hand - he was very upset that I was crying) "But mommy - there are no monsters here! You don't have to be scared!"

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I showed him a car driving by and said "You could have been hit by a car!" I really was hysterical crying. I couldn't even talk. I just stood there and held him and held him and held him. He kept saying he was so sorry.

In the car, the first thing he said was "Mommy - Don't tell Daddy!" Chat Icon

I'm still crying. I can't get over this. This was the worst fear I ever felt in my life. Ever.

When we got home, I took him out of his seat and told him to walk to the sidewalk, and he stood right next to me and didn't move. This must have really made an impact. He never really saw me cry before.

I know any tragedy can take 2 seconds. I live it. I breathe it. I do everything I can to make sure I cover all bases. And still, I didn't think to prevent this.

Thank GOD nothing happened. Chat Icon

Posted 3/7/10 4:17 PM