Circle of Friends

a not so happy day

New didn't start out so well for me. I slept in late and woke feeling
something was wrong. It was easy to discover what that wrongness
was. The power was off. One lucky thing though, a few months ago
I had asked John to buy us a regular phone. The cordless kind won't
work if the electric goes out. So I was able to look up the power
company number and called to hear the recording that there was
a power outage and they hope to have the power restored sometime
after 1.
Ugh, a rotten morning. No coffee! No computer! And it was raining.
So I got a glass of juice and sat on the couch and read by the light
coming in the window. Tell me tell you if time is flying by too fast
for you, doing without electric power slows it down. LOL
Friday afternoon, the power came back on.
John came home from work and we did the usual friday errands
and met our son for dinner at O'Charley's.
We got home about 8:30 and as we were bringing in the groceries
and putting them away, the phone rang.
I thought it was Melissa calling. She had left at 3:15 that afternoon to visit
her fiance and his family. They live 2 hours south of us in a town called
Princeton. But it was Trent, her fiance asking if we had heard from her!
He said she had called and left a message on his cell phone that she
had taken a wrong turn and ended up in the another town. That she had
gotten directions and had gotten to Princeton and was waiting at a co-op in
Princeton. He said he and his parents couldn't find her. That that call had been
left at 6:30.
Here it was over 5 hours since since she had kissed me good bye and left
for what should have been a 2 hour drive! Needless to say John and I were
very upset. The next call came from Trent saying he and his dad were at the
police station asking for help. The next hour dragged by with me thinking all
the worst things that could have happened. I thought of Jill Berman, a girl
who had disappeared a few years ago. She was to going to IU at the same time
as Melissa. She went out for an early morning bike ride and was never seen again.
Finally Trent called again. The police had been looking for Melissa's car and had
found her at the Taco Bell. She was trying to to use the pay phone there.
They escourted her to the police station where Trent and his dad were waiting.
A few minutes later Melissa called us.
She was crying. She'd been scared and embarassment was overwhelming her.
The stress had gotten to John, He was lecturing her and asking how this could
have happened. I picked up the other phone and cut in. At that moment I
didn't care how she got lost. All I cared about was I was talking to my baby!
I talked to her, trying to calm her down. After a few minutes John was too.
She and Trent assured us they'll call the next day.
After all I could do was hug John and be thankful that my child was safe.
My heart breaking again for the parents who didn't get the call. Whose
child would never come back to them. Who didn't have to wait for a few
hours of worry, but instead days, weeks, months of never knowing.
Fearing the worst. Hanging on to hope as time passes.
It really made me stop and count my blessings.