STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

My husband and oldest son had just come back from football and were eating lunch.  Hubby let the 2 little ones play right outside the garage w/ the door open.  I went out to get the little one to go down for nap and said to the other one, "Come on.  It's time for nap."  She said, "First I'm going to ride my scooter."  I figured that was fine since the doors were open and I'd be right back down in about a minute or less.

So I put the little one in his crib and came back downstairs and outside to get her (she's 3).  Her scooter was still in basically the same place as when I'd gone in but was laying down.  I called for her and walked down the driveway, but still no her.  I thought it was odd because she never goes out of our yard.  I went back in as asked hubby if he'd seen her.  He wasn't sure but thought she came in (he'd been standing right there in the kitchen, so I don't know how he'd miss her anyway).  So I looked in the basement and called her name.  Nothing.  I went all the way up to her room.  Nothing.  I looked in our room and closet.  Nothing.  I went back down and told hubby I couldn't find her.  We both headed outside, by now panicked!  We walked all around the house yelling for her.  We went opposite directions on the street, gathered neighbors and strangers to help, and got my oldest and his friends to search the forest behind our house.  Nothing.  I called 9-1-1 to send lots of cars to drive around the area and asked the next door neighbor if he'd seen any cars.  He said he'd seen one drive by a couple of times but he didn't see it stop.

After calling 9-1-1, the phone rang.  No one was there, but I could hear breathing.  I was soooooo freaked out, because I just *knew* it must be the kidnapper taunting me.  Hubby looked inside again in the sleeping baby's room, all the other bedrooms, and the basement.  I checked the cars and the trunks just in case.  Nothing.

Just then I heard my hubby yelling.  He'd found her in the basement (where we'd both already looked) hiding in the cushions of the couch, watching TV!!!!  We don't know if she was scared that she was in trouble because we were yelling her name, or if she was just totally zoned out.  The police and firemen came, which scared the crap out of her.  She thought they were going to take her away!!!!

Anyway, that was such a scary situation; and even though it was only about 15 minutes, it seemed like an eternity.  Hubby and I both had to recover for a while.  I'm still shaken!

Just thought I'd share my harrowing adventure!