Yeah, yeah, used it before. Deal with it. I already told you no one wants to pose anymore, so we may all have to deal with repeats. Love this picture, though. That expression is so Sam.
Somewhere it is written that this was going to be a week from hell for me. Sure wish I would have got that memo before hand. It's like reading your horoscope the day after and saying, "Oh my God! It was a rotten day!"
I made the mistake earlier today of thinking, "Ah, not a perfect day, but oh so much better than yesterday." Well, Sam took care of that.
Eloping, you say? Eloping? What, did she grab a bus ticket to Virginia and is marrying some 40 year-old pedophile that she met on the internet? Well, I hate to say NO and then have her make a liar of me, so I'd better go check and see if she is where I think she is.
A sigh of relief. She is in the house. She is in bed. Once again going to sleep to the movie Mama Mia and in case you don't know it, THAT'S NOT A MOVIE TO SLEEP BY. Believe me, she did the same thing last night and I'm feeling sleep deprived.
So back to the elopement. I'm probably the only ignorant one who had to have the term explained to me, since what I thought it meant didn't make any sense at the time. Yes, you all are probably thinking,"Hey dummy, I already knew that." Sorry, indulge me, I'm sleep deprived.
Sam ran off on me tonight. In the dark. Quietly, very quietly. We were all here when she did it and none of us realized it. This wasn't a case of everyone being off in their own corners and not paying attention. This was a case of us all being in the living room and kitchen and not paying attention. I was making dinner, Miranda was watching yet another episode of Bones, and Mick was getting frustrated searching for a coat that was RIGHT THERE while preparing to leave for a Trailblazers game. And Sam was there, too.
And then she wasn't.
Mick had just left and two minutes later, Sam's dinner was ready. I put it on the table and went to get her and...she wasn't anywhere.
We've had this happen before, both imagined and real. We've had times when we searched frantically only to find her, let's see: 1) under the hot tub lid, 2),under a pile of blankets in her room, 3) hiding in someone else's bed, 4) in a closet eating candy, 5)in the shop in the dark tiny room sitting on her porta-potty and using it. Oh, and 6) standing behind the shrubs in the dark NOT ANSWERING US!
And then there have been a handful of times when she hasn't been anywhere that is HERE. Horrible. Let me tell you, it is just horrible.
Every horrible news story flashes through my mind and I just have to chase those images away and DEAL. But the truth is, disabled people are very vulnerable to being victimized. While Sam isn't non-verbal, she isn't exactly a conversationalist either. Someone could hurt her and she wouldn't be able to describe what was done to her or what the person looked like, sounded like, where they took her, or even where she hurts. Completely vulnerable, which is why we try to watch her 24/7.
When I got home from work tonight, Sam was wearing a nice shirt, bike shorts, and black mary janes. Why I share that, I don't know, except that it is so Sam. I knew she wanted to go somewhere or else she'd have been near-naked. Or completely. "Safeway store car fast," she said to me. "No, not tonight, sweetheart," I replied. Earlier at school, she'd requested Safeway and also Red Robin.
So I knew. She hasn't been happy with our decreased income resulting in decreased restaurant visits. We feel bad about that, but unfortunately, no matter how we try to explain it to her, these are concepts she can't grasp. They are meaningless to her.
So like I said, I JUST KNEW. We did a quick sweep of the house and property. Miranda ran down our street while I went out back. She wasn't in any of the usual places. It is dark. It's cold. And it is so windy tonight.
I called 911.
I've had to do it before, but for some reason, sleep deprivation I guess, I felt like I was going to lose it. Tears threatened to spill and my throat was constricting. I wanted to go look for her, but the dispatcher told me to stay home.
I thought she'd only been gone about 10 minutes, but I must have miscalculated the time.
I got a call back from 911 about 10 minutes later. They had her and were bringing her home.
Sam had walked clear down to the Hong Kong restaurant. That's at least a couple miles from our house. I'm sorry to tell the Hong Kong restaurant that they weren't her destination. She was heading for the competition--Chen's Family Restaurant. They are about another mile from where she was picked up and she LOVES their chicken lo mein. Had she made it there, they would have recognized her, but wouldn't have known how to contact us.
The police officer said she was reluctant to get in the squad car. I'm glad that she was at least reluctant, but the sorry fact is, she got into a car with someone she doesn't know. We were just lucky that it was the police.
The police officer was great. Absolutely no guilt trip which probably would have killed me tonight. He said we did it exactly right by calling right away. Too many people wait too long he said, and keep searching on their own. Always call right away. A quick look around your house and yard, and then if the person isn't there, call 911 immediately.
Big sigh of relief. Tears threatening a little again. Time to go to bed. Try to sleep through all those ABBA dance songs from Mama Mia ( I love that music, just can't sleep to it). And when Mick comes home and wants to tell me all about the game, I'll reply with, "Well guess what happened right after you left tonight?"
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