I almost lost her...

Today started out as any ordinary Sunday would. Brunch before 11am, then my parents arrived to pick us up for our weekly grocery trip. I usually check out some shops before I join my parents in the grocery, but this time, we all went in together. My dad went his way, my mom went the opposite direction, and Chloe and I walked around with no shopping cart. We only had a few items to buy anyway.

An hour after, we all met up at the cashier. Chloe was being her usual malikot self. Running around, trying to see how far she can walk away from me until I call her back. I kept an eye on her the whole time. So while I was helping my dad load some of their purchases on the conveyor, I made sure that I can still see Chloe from the corner of my eye. When my mom went back to get something she forgot to get, I didn't pay much attention to her. Because that's normally how it goes.

A few seconds after my mom left, Chloe was nowhere to be seen.

I immediately went around to search for her. I started with the nearby aisles, hoping that she's just waiting for me to find her. I started checking each aisle one by one, shouting her name, hoping she'll hear me and come running back. NONE.

Panicked, I signalled to my dad that I couldn't find her. With brows furrowed, he whipped out his cellphone to call my mom. I tried fumbling for mine in my bag's pockets, but with all the worry and panic that was going on in my head, I couldn't find my celphone.

A man in a blue and white striped shirt approached me and asked who I was looking for. 'Anak ko,' I cried. He asked for the gender. I said girl. He got out his walkie talkie and, I presume, radioed his other colleagues, probably in civilian wear too, to look out for a little girl wandering alone.

I could feel the other shoppers' eyes on me, as they saw me, a panicked woman with a crazy look in her eyes, running around the aisles and calling out Chloe's name loudly. But I didn't care about the scene I was making. I just wanted to see my little girl in her white dress running back to me.

It had been only a few minutes since the whole thing started, but at that moment, it really, really felt like an eternity. With no signs of Chloe, I ran back to my dad. And I saw him calmly loading groceries on the belt. I asked him if he knew where Chloe was. He said Chloe was with my mother.

Ohmygulay.

After the initial relief, I unabashedly wept. :D The man in the striped shirt saw me crying, and asked if I had found her. "Oo, kasama mama ko." He smiled. I smiled. And wept some more.

A few seconds later, Chloe and my mom came back, happily prancing about, oblivious to the near breakdown they almost caused me. My mom said that after she turned around to go back and get whatever item she forgot to get, she saw Chloe running after her. Good thing she did! Because obviously, I didn't.

The thing is, a few weeks back, I had this thought about all the parents out there who reported their kids missing. How did they cope? Were the kids ever found? My mom told me this story of one mom who lost her son and later found out that he was in Hong Kong, arms and legs chopped off, begging on the streets for money. Urban legend? I don't know. But when I heard the story, I had hoped nothing like that would ever happen to us. The idea of not knowing where your baby is, of having to go home after an innocent trip to the mall with no baby in tow, is scary. I wouldnt' wish it on my worst enemy.

As I am typing this, I watch my little daughter deep into her nap, lying down beside me on our white comforter. And I am deeply, humbly thankful to the powerful being up there, that this day ended peacefully and happily, and that I am able to type this blog post calmly.