Absolute fear

The boys got home from school. Riordan and Daegan are playing outside, Corrin is watching t.v. I go upstairs and start reading the many blogs that I read, plus a few more. Corrin comes upstairs and asks if he can spend the night over at his grandparents, I tell him to call and ask. The answer is yes, so he rides over to their house on his bike. Another five minutes pass and then I come downstairs and see Riordan, but no Daegan. I look outside in the back (by this time it's getting dark) and don't see or hear him. Sometimes the boys play football in the back in the dark (although this has become something of the past since Daegan ran into a tree stake a couple of months ago) so I called his name. Nothing. I go back inside and then go to the front and open the door and call his name. Nothing.

Now, if you have kids, you know sometimes they just do this. They know YOU don't know where they are, and they think it's the funniest thing in the world to listen to their parents call for them. I'm thinking at first this is what is going on. So, I go around the house on the inside and start calling his name. Looking in the closets, under the beds, downstairs in the basement. Still not hearing him. By this time, I'm getting angry. I call Brian. He asks me if I've said the obligatory "this isn't funny, and you're in trouble if you don't come out right now." I tell him I haven't and that I'll do that. 20 minutes have gone by with me continuously calling him outside and inside. I am now in the mommy freak-out mode. I can't find him ANYWHERE.

I call my father-in-law and ask if, by any reason, Daegan went to his house with Corrin. Nope. I start to cry. The blubbering, can't understand a single thing I'm saying type of cry. I happen to look up and see Daegan's face peering through the window of the front door. By this time I'm not sure if I want to strangle him or hug him. I hurriedly told my father-in-law that I found him and rushed to the door. Call Brian back and tell him I found him.

I then just sit there and cry. Daegan knows at this time he's in deep shit.

There is nothing at all worse than the fear of losing a child. This was the longest 20 minutes of my life.

To answer the question you're all thinking...yes...he's still alive. He said he didn't hear me calling him. I have no idea if this is the truth or not, but I'm guessing he won't be leaving the house without letting me know from now on.