Panic

I had that moment that every mother fears today. I couldn’t find my child. I was in Barnes and Noble and turned my back for a second and when I turned around, L was nowhere to be found. I didn’t quite panic then, I calmly looked around where we had been, staying by the front in case she made a break for the doors. But nothing. I finally asked a clerk to help me and we quietly made out way down the middle of the store, to the kids’ section. Nothing. We were going to call a Code Adam and just as I’m giving the clerk a description of L, another woman tells me there’s a child with that description in the toys.

And yes, sitting quietly, playing with some Vtech toys in a quiet aisle, is Linnea. I can’t tell you how happy I was to see her.

But now that she’s asleep, I feel like it’s hitting me that I lost her. I lost my daughter in a store. I found her, but still, I lost her.