Well folks, it's a been a few days since I've written and for that I'm sorry. I've been sick and just haven't felt like dragging myself over to the computer to write. And on that same note, I have so much gunk sloshing around in my head that I can't really think of anything new and interesting to write about, so I'm gonna tell y'all a little story about the scariest-- and at the same time, one of the funniest (now its funny, then it wasn't...you gotta laugh about these things, ya know, or you'll go nuts)--days of our lives.
"Hey...Mom...I'm goin' for a walk, k?" That would have been awesome to hear before JB, then age 5, took off out the door. Instead, I heard nothing. And I mean not one...little...noise. (I secretly think the boy is a ninja--he's so freakin' sneaky!!) Of course, that could have been because I was on the phone taking care of some actual business--*gasp*, not gossiping-- (one day I will have my revenge on those bill collectors!), and not paying attention to my boy. He always picks those time to do things like this. JB watches you and waits for that perfect moment when your attention so focused on something else and then...BAM!! He's done something he's not supposed to do. Like stuff Thomas the train down the toilet, or slap one of his sisters, or grab a biscuit, a cookie, or a huge block of cheese and eat it when he's not supposed to!! Or in this case, sneak out the front door.
So I was on the phone arguing with some collection agency--pick one, any one, autism is expensive, OK--with my huge binder of bills and records spread out on the kitchen table. Everything is going well so far; the kids are actually playing quietly and not running in to interrupt me, and the baby, Ressie, is sleeping. Alright, I got this...I'm free to take care of business. But sometime while I was on this call, which was a long one, JB managed to walk right past me and out of the front door without me noticing. When I hung up the phone, I decided it was time to wake up Ressie from her nap or she would sleep forever and not sleep that night. (Ressie has always been an awesome sleeper). So I go and get her and change her diaper, and as I'm coming back out into the living room, I notice that Jenna is by herself. OK, no biggie, JB goes to his room a lot by himself, so I go in there to check on him. Again, no JB. I even check the closet, which is his quiet spot/reading nook. NO JB. OK, well, he likes to snuggle up in my bed ans look at books or play games on my phone, so I go that way. I'm starting to panic just a little bit. Get to my room, NO JB. Panic level increasing, I grab the phone, dial my mom's number, and start at one end of the house and make my way to the other end, looking everywhere. STILL NO JB. FULL PANIC MODE!! "Mom, I can't find JB anywhere". Mom: "did you call 911?" Me, panicking still, I yell: "I CAN'T FIND JB, I'M GOING OUTSIDE!!". ((OK, so here is where any normal person would call 911, but I was so panicked, I couldn't really think of what I should do)). When this happened, my mom was still living next door to us, so she quickly ran up the hill to help. She also called 911, and then a few other family members to help us look.
My first thought about where he would go was just outside either the trampoline--NO JB--to the swing set--STILL NO JB. Its a huge one with a fort and a slide and everything, so after I looked all through there to make sure he wasn't hiding, my panic level was even higher. Next thought: "JB is fascinated with the pigs", so go look there. Next immediate thought: "HOLY SHIT WHAT IF HE GOT IN THERE WITH SAMSON (the big aggressive boar we had at the time)?!!!" Scared the hell out of me because that pig was not at all friendly and he was huge! A big boar will tear a man up, so just imagine what he might do to a 5 year old!! So I get back to the pig pens, all the while carting Ressie and a phone--it was on, so not actually doing me any good, with the annoying 'would you like to make a call' recording going over and over, but I was so panicked that I didn't register that was going on. So I start stumbling back towards the house, bawling my eyes out, not doing anyone any good. ((If this ever happens to any of y'all, try to stay calm and think. I panicked and couldn't be any help at all to my boy.)) Meanwhile, Jenna is on the front porch, where I told her to stay--she's the good one, LOL--yelling "JJJJJJ BBBBBBBBBB" over and over, and my mom has, by this time, run up the driveway and out to the road. As she is walking down the road looking, she runs into a guy walking our way. He asks her in halting English if shes looking for a little boy. She says yes, and tells him what JB looks like. They man says he knows where he is, come with him. So she yells at me and I hear her. By this time, the sheriff's deputy has arrived, so they end up riding down the road and around the corner to this guy's house.
Apparently, 'what had happened was'--when you start a sentence with this phrase, it usually means what follows is a little crazy, so its fitting, I think--JB took off out the door, wearing only a T-shirt, undies, and tennis shoes with no socks, and went for a little stroll in the woods. He ended up at this family's house and just walked right on in their door, without knocking, helped himself to a banana off of the counter, kicked off his shoes, and sat down with their 2 kids to watch cartoons!! This poor couple had no clue what to do, and they started asking him questions, but they don't speak much English, and I'm pretty sure JB doesn't know Spanish, no matter how much he watches Dora and Diego. Add to that the fact that JB doesn't speak, and well, of course they didn't get any answers out of him. So the dad decides to start walking and looking for someone who is looking for a kid. So he finds my mom on the road and viola! JB IS FOUND SAFE!!
Let me just put in here how thankful I am that he walked in on a very nice family and not some crazy person. It could really have turned out a lot differently, and I am so thankful every time I think about it for how this event turned out. Thank you Lord that I can now laugh at this and share it with folks as a way to help them learn about how easily a child can slip away from you.
So after Butch made it home and I stopped shaking, we rode down the road to meet this family and thank them for "finding" JB. We exchanged 'thank-yous' and 'your-welcomes' as well as we could and even tried to offer them some money as a thank you, but they wouldn't take it. I was, however, able to provide them with a pocket information card--in Spanish even!!--about Autism. So I hope that helped them to understand why may child was wondering around with no parents only half-dressed.
Well, we ended up installing door alarms, but luckily JB has only tried to escape one other time after this incident, and because Papa Bear (Butch) was home at the time, he got caught. And I'll just tell ya that he made it as far as the detached garage before being made to turn around and head back inside. And I will tell you that after that run-in with one very upset Papa Bear, the boy has never tried to escape the house again. With Butch's help, I finally quit blaming myself and quit thinking about all of the horrible things that "could have" happened. Then I figured out that I could even laugh about what did happen and move on and share our story.
I would like to ask y'all, after reading my story with a happy ending, to please say a little prayer for the families whose stories of wandering didn't end so happily. Almost every day, a child with Autism wanders away from family or caregivers, and those stories oftentimes do end tragically We ask the Lord to please watch over those families and give them strength.
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