Scary Closing

Today I had a scary-for-a-parent moment. Having a child get lost is something no parent wants to have happen. I can remember getting lost in a department store once and not being able to find my mom. Panic can set in quite quickly.

Today Amy, Elliot and I were taking the bus downtown to meet Sue. When it was time to get off the kids got up from their seats and made their way to the back door.

I was keeping my eye on both of them very carefully. I was also trying to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind. We got to the rear door of the bus and Elliot hopped out onto the pavement.

As Amy and I started to go, the door started closing. Elliot had turned around at this point and was waiting for us. This particular bus door is operated by the driver, so no amount of me pushing on the bar would open it and the driver couldn’t have seen Elliot get off.

The door closed all the way, the bus started, and Elliot’s eyes instantly became panicked. I panicked and yelled loudly for the driver to open the door. He didn’t right away, so I yelled very loudly for him to stop. Thankfully he did and the bus had only rolled a couple feet from where it had stopped.

The door opened, I yelled a loud thank you and Amy and I jumped off. By this point my heart rate was pretty high. On the sidewalk I gave Elliot a big hug and praised him for not running toward the bus. Amy was pretty upset as well, but once we all had calmed down we were able to continue on our way.

It was a huge reminder to talk with the kids about what to do when separated from us.