MIA at MOA

Saturday night, my wife and I learned just how quickly one can lose a child. At the Mall of America, no less. What seemed like an hour, but was really probably no more than 15 minutes, may have taken a couple years off of our lives.

Actually, I was pretty cool-headed. Awful thoughts entered my head, but exited just as quickly as I stayed focussed on finding him. So was my wife, although she said inside she was just about ready to give up, when we finally found him. Here's how it happened:

It was my wife, our two kids, and two of my kids (out of three from a previous marriage; the other was at a sleep-over). After we had supper at Johnny Rocket's on the third floor, we decided to head down to Nickelodeon Universe and buy some ride tickets (wrist bands, really, but we misspoke and called them tickets...more on that later).

So as my daughter was pushing our one-year-old toward the elevator, our three-year-old is following behind her. My wife, looking at the menu at the yogurt stand, asked me where we might find some milk for the one-year-old. I glance at the menu, then look at my daughter across the busy mall hallway, and ask, "Is (three-year-old) with you?"

"Yes," she answered.

So my wife and I look at the menu further, only to realize there is no milk on it. After a little less than a minute of that, we decided to just head down and look later.

When I got to the elevator, my daughter was waiting for us with one-year-old. I looked around and asked, "Where is (three-year-old)?" It turns out when I asked her if he was with her before, she thought I meant (or said) the one-year-old. Spinning around and scanning the area quickly, I realized he was not within 50 feet of us, and said, "You gotta be kidding me!" How I kept from cursing, I do not know.

It was no one's fault, really. Three-year-old managed to walk 100 yards or so to the Radio Shack. I don't really remember whether someone noticed he was lost on their own or whether they noticed him after Security had communicated. Again, it happened quite fast, yet seemed so long.

Apparently, when the first woman (of the two who returned him) talked to him, the conversation went something like this:

"What's your name?"

"(Name)"

"Who are you with?"

"With my brother. My daddy is going to get some tickets."

"What's your daddy's name?"

"Daddy!"

"What's your mom's name?"

"Mommy!"

I was most worried about his love of escalators and other things he could get himself injured on (not to mention, heaven forbid, a three-story fall). Also, whether he would be scared. He wasn't, although when he was returned to us, he first saw my older son, and he ran towards his big brother and said, "I missed you!"

My wife was, understandably, worried about the worst. She says she nearly lost it; I was pretty proud of how well-composed she kept.

One thing we both agreed on: after something like that, you want to hug the little guy and not let go for a while.

I thank the MOA security for how quickly and professionally they responded.