True Story Tuesday

Well for a Tuesday, and a work day, so far so good. We're expecting about 10C, I got to work just before 7:30 (which means I can leave before 4pm), I put together a new outfit that I'm liking from clothes I already had, I think my hair looks pretty decent, I think I have my new blackberry bought from Shady Man figured out, and of course, it's time for True Story Tuesday, brought to us by Rachel and Mr Daddy over at Once Upon a Miracle. Head on over there for more true stories, and to add your own.

Today's story isn't funny at all, but I'm sure it's one that all of you can relate to and probably have a few of your own. As parents, we all know what our greatest fear is. And even though most are false alarms, I'm sure we've all had the bejeezus scared out of us by our little angels. This has happened to me more than a few times, but these ones in particular stand out as the worst .... I can remember having such a knot in my gut, my knees going weak, and not being able to concentrate (I'd be horrible in the event of a real disaster).

Sydnerella was maybe 5 years old when Silly Sally's ex boyfriend thought it would be funny to take her to hide in a rack of clothes in Sears and not answer his cell phone when Silly Sally called to ask him if he had my daughter. It didn't take long for the fear to kick in, we were standing at the entrance to the biggest mall in Calgary from the Sears doors and I almost flipped right out. My legs turned to jello and I barely made it over to the perfume counter to sputter out to the nice lady working it that I couldn't find my child. I was holding myself up on the counter at that point because I think my legs had buckled. Just as she was reaching for the phone, I spotted a reflection in the mirror behind nice Sears lady of Sydnerella and the ex hiding in a rack of clothes laughing. I was too light headed to do much else but grab Sydnerella, but nice Sears lady gave the ex an earful and he's lucky she didn't drop kick him in the face, which we learnt much later on that he deserved for so many other reasons.

When Sydnerella was just old enough to play in the bath without me sitting on the toilet seat talking on the phone or reading a book. We had just got comfortable with me being other places in the house with no music or TV so I could still hear everything upstairs (in my teeny tiny shoe box) while she splashed away for sometimes close to an hour. As long as I could hear the splashing, she was ok. I was ok. One particular day, I couldn't hear the splashing. So I called her name, couldn't hear anything. I only had to try twice before I leaped up the stairs, I swear 3 at a time, and as I rounded the corner on the landing where I normally would have been able to see Sydnerella in the tub, I couldn't see anything but what looked like an empty bathroom. This time, I didn't take the steps 3 at a time, I literally leaped from the landing to the tub and was just about to throw myself in to pick little Sydnerella up when I came face to face with her - laying in the shallow water that covered her ears, with a big smile, a little doll that bouncing on her belly, singing softly .. so content. I fell on the toilet and sat there recovering my stroke for the rest of her bath. And for every bath after that ... actually I still do and it pisses her off. Well, ok, I don't but still ....

Now that the scene has been set, I can share with you my story for today. Yesterday, I was working away when I got a call from Sydnerella. It was about 8am. She said she wasn't feeling well again, and wasn't sure she could make it to school. She was already on the couch for 6 days before Halloween but really hasn't seemed 100% since then, so I told her to go back to bed and call me when she woke up. It wasn't until about 11am that I realized she hadn't called yet, so I called home. No answer. I called her cell. No answer. I waited another 10 minutes, then tried each number again. No answer. I decided at that point that she must have went to school, because as heavy of a sleeper as Sydnerella is, she is addicted to her cell phone and doesn't miss calls ... ever. Well noon came, so I called again because being out for lunch, she'd be able to answer. Nothing. After another 15 minutes of repeated unanswered calls, I started to freak out. My bwf (best work friend) offered to drive me to my car so I can speed home. Being this would still take upwards of 20 minutes, I even put a call into a good friend who lives a block from my house to go bang on the doors, and start bustin out windows if there's no answer. She was on it! But before I even got to my car, and I'm still repeatedly making calls like a mad woman, she finally, finally answered the phone. A very groggy and quiet Hello! Well sumbitch! Her phone had dropped off her bed down the wall and she couldn't hear it. She'll never know the fear that she put in me, and it's not even her fault. I'm blaming the media, Health Canada, the person that was making out with the pigs in Mexico, whatever. I was very honestly scared of this damn H1N1. All I could think of while all this was happening was the 13 year old hockey player that died 2 weeks ago in Ontario. I thought horrible things while I was trying to reach Sydnerella. After I picked us up some Burger King for lunch, I grounded her ass for doing what she did to me. No, I didn't really, but I wanted to. And now I have to price out medicalert, or lifeline, or try to get a GPS implanted under her skin so I can always find her ....