Finders Keepers

Imagine with me that you are visiting your MIL with your family and the doorbell rings.  Your MIL answers and there is a stranger there holding your less that two-year-old son asking, "Do you know this little boy?"  The stranger then continues on saying, "I found him walking alone, outside, in the street!"

Can you even imagine the horror you would feel?

This happened to me today.  Luckily, I was the stranger that found the little boy, and not the mother who started sobbing as she realized what was going on and what could have happened to her baby.  I just can't get this scenario out of my mind.

Our family was coming home from church when I spotted an unaccompanied toddler holding a ball very close to and sometimes wandering in the street.  I scanned the area for surely there was an adult nearby watching.  No one.  I told Derek to pull over the car, for surely something was not right here.

Luckily our car was now between the toddler and the other cars as now he was in the street, crying, saying "Mommy" and trying to get inside a car parked on the street.  I scooped up the little boy, who was not much bigger than Maverick and asked him, "Did you lose Mommy?  I'll help you find her."  I tried to get any information I could from the little boy such as his name, or even pointing to where Mommy might be with no luck.

I decided I'd need to go door-to-door to try and find somebody that knew this child.  Luckily, the first house I tried was it.  The grandmother answered the door and had a look of pure shock while she tried to process why a stranger had her grandson.  The mother approached the door next, and believe it or not, I KNEW HER!!  I don't know her well enough that I'd recognize her child without her, but we are friends!  She lives 45 minutes away from my house, so what are the odds?

She has a 3-year-old, and is due with her 3rd (all boys) in January.  I could easily identify with her situation and was so glad that I was there at the right time to help out and nothing bad happened.  I know this is something I won't be forgetting for a very long time.