the night peyton was lost

So, last night I was exhausted. Exhausted. And home alone again with the kids, at 8pm I found myself checking the clock every 3 minutes waiting for the minute Damian would pull into the driveway and relieve me – even if only for a moment – from my children. He finally rolled in at 8:30 and I was FREE. I sent Peyton downstairs to play with Autin for a few more minutes before bedtime. Damian and I caught up on our days while he ate dinner. Then the phone rang. It was my Dad asking if Austin could go fishing with him in the morning. Yes, but he would need a backpack filled with necessities and a lunch. I scurried around getting the things together and hollered down to Austin that it was time for him to get to bed. Continuing my conversation with Damian I asked him to check on Peyton in the basement. “You left her in the dark?”, he asked as he peered down the basement steps. We realized Austin must have turned off the lights when he came upstairs. Peyton must have went into her bedroom to finish watching Barney that was playing on her tv. But, she wasn’t there. O.k., she must have fallen asleep downstairs. But, she was no where to be found there either. At this point it was still somewhat light out so I freaked out and assumed she had walked past Damian in the kitchen, and outside through the front door that maybe he had accidentally left open. Damian and I hurried outside, and searched our yard. In shock, and terrified, I sent him up the street to look for her. One time she had ran out the driveway and down the cul-de-sac as Damian watched her from the driveway. She was gone. We called Damian’s mom who helped us search, then the police department, who searched our house, and then they called the fire department, who setup lights in our front yard and started searching. . . Damian said he searched EVERYWHERE in our neighborhood and realized she must be in our house somewhere. He came back to the house, and moved the kids playhut out of the way of the door under the basement steps. Upon opening the door, he found Peyton, curled up at the end of the closet, sleeping. Agh . . . Thank God. A night that made me feel like a terrible mother, and made me realize just how quickly out lives could change.