It started out as a normal Friday. Elyssa and Natalie had “jeans day” at school, so they were excited to be out of uniform. They picked out their jeans and wanted to wear their new volleyball camp t-shirt that they had just gotten from the University of Mobile Volleyball Camp. Victoria (8-years-old) had “out of uniform” day, so she got to wear a hot pink shirt with matching black tights with hot pink stars all over them. Everyone was dressed and ready for their day. Hair and teeth had been brushed. Now, the girls had free time until leaving for school.
Elyssa (10-years-old) was watching a newer Star Wars computer generated series on Netflix. She is really into Star Wars now! Mark has educated her on “the force” and watched all of the old Star Wars movies with her. So, she was occupied with that and basically, was forcing Natalie (9-years-old) to watch it since Natalie was in the same room. Poor Natalie.
Victoria still needed to write her spelling words for the day, so I took her into her room to do that. Victoria has an old-timey school desk in her room in which she can sit to do homework. She sat in her desk, pencil in hand and began to trace the words, “give” and “have” that I had written out for her with a highlighter. Victoria had my phone on her desk and was watching videos that we had filmed on it while she was writing her words out. I left her to write her words and eventually, she got up and closed her bedroom door. That is no surprise. She closes doors in our house all the time. And, after she closes the doors … she usually locks them. I am constantly getting onto her about locking doors.
While all three girls were occupied, I grabbed my purse and began to pull out one-dollar bills for the girls to pay for their school lunch, jeans day, bake sale, etc. I noticed that most of my dollar bills were gone now that I was giving them all away to my kids. Oh well. Such is life with three elementary school-aged kids!
Mark was in the shower. He was getting dressed to take the girls to school. He had been out of town all week for a conference, so the girls were excited to ride to school with Daddy today. I was in my usual Disney ball cap, t-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. I was staying home most of the day, so I was not yet “dressed up.” It was almost 7:30am, so I started calling the girls to get their book bags ready for school. They usually leave for school around 7:35am, so I wanted them to be ready to go when Mark exited the bathroom. Elyssa and Natalie were done with their book bags, so I headed to the front bedroom to get Victoria and pack up her homework. When I arrived at the front bedroom door, it was locked. No surprise! I stood on my tippy-toes to reach the door key that we keep above the door frame. I found it with my fingertips and took the key down to open the door. Once the door was open, I saw Victoria’s homework laying on the carpet, all completed. I saw my cell phone sitting on top of her made-up bed. But, there was no Victoria in the room. I called her name, thinking she was hiding from me. Then, suddenly … my eyes caught view of the front bedroom window. Even though the blinds were let all the way down, I had opened them to let the sun shine in. I don’t know how, but somehow … deep inside me … I could tell the bedroom window had been opened. I, then, could clearly hear birds chirping from our front yard. I immediately panicked. I knew Victoria had gone out the front window. I yelled her name while I ran to the front door of the house. I opened the door, yelling her name … no Victoria to be seen. I ran down our front sidewalk calling, “Victoria, Victoria!” I didn’t see her anywhere. I tried to look as far as I could down the street sidewalk … just trying to catch a glimpse or her possibly walking down the sidewalk. She had done that once before … getting several houses down from ours and I had to run down there to catch her. I don’t know what it is about Down syndrome children, but most of them seem to have elopement issues. I’ve read stories all the time of other parents who have dealt with the same heart-stopping panic that I was feeling. I still couldn’t see Victoria. Elyssa and Natalie were crying and yelling Victoria’s name with me in the front yard.
I knew I had to get in my van and look around the neighborhood. Elyssa and Natalie ran with me to the garage. All of us were in a panic … halfway crying and yelling. I opened the garage door. There was no sight of Victoria on that side of the house either. So, I jumped in my car … telling the girls to stay at the house with Mark. Mark had just gotten out of the bathroom and realized what was going on. I started my van and began slowly backing out. I put my van window down and continued yelling Victoria’s name as I eased down my driveway. I still couldn’t see her down the sidewalk as my van pulled closer to the street. I looked to my left and to my right. Then, I saw her. Victoria was to my right. She was walking right in front of her bedroom window and had, apparently, been walking by our backyard fence on her bedroom side of the house. Even though I had finally found her, my heart was still beating hard in my chest. I put the passenger window down and called her name again. I told her to come over to my van. She got in the van and I immediately began telling her how scared she made me. I explained that I had no idea where she was and that she should never go out her window or even go outside without me or Daddy. She put her head down, knowing that I was very upset. She could tell I was in a panic. I told her that her sisters and I had been crying and calling out her name everywhere. We were all scared that she was hurt. This is not the first time something like this has happened before, so she has heard this speech many times in the past. Those are horror stories for another day.
I pulled my van back into the driveway and then into the garage. Victoria got out of the van and I took her into the kitchen. I sat in front of her while she stood with her face close to mine. I, basically, repeated everything to her that I had just said to the in the van. Her face was downcast and, again, she knew I was upset. She began crying. Elyssa and Natalie were standing close to me. We all hugged Victoria as she cried. We even cried with her and told her how much we love her.
The girls grabbed their backpacks and headed into the garage to load into the van to ride to school with Daddy. As I stood beside the van in the garage, I looked into the eyes of Elyssa and Natalie. I felt so thankful that God blessed me with two of the most caring and protective sisters that Victoria could ever have. I grabbed their hands and told them how much I loved them. Then, I looked at Victoria, snuggled into between her sisters in the 2nd row seat of the van. I grabbed her hand, reiterated to her that we all love her so much and just want her to be safe. She put her head down once again, signifying that she was sorry. Then, just like that … Mark began backing the van out of the garage. They were off to school.
I wish that experiences like this didn’t happen in our family. I wish I wouldn’t have to feel heart palpitations every time I am unable to initially locate Victoria in our house. But, such is life with a special needs child. You try to do everything in your power to protect your child and prevent dangerous situations from happening, but there always seems to be some sort of loophole. Maybe this just causes me to pray a little harder than some people and maybe, just maybe … I recognize, a little more often than most, how much I love my family. It doesn’t take me long to realize how blessed I am to have a wonderful and caring husband, two of the sweetest and most caring daughters who are such big helpers to me (and great protectors to their baby sister), and the most special gift God could ever give our family … Victoria.