Nerve-wrecking experience

[Paula]

My kids and I went to pet expo last saturnaday and it turned into a mother's nightmare:

We were looking fishs in tanks (aquariums). She was between two tanks (I was other side of the one of them) when I turned my head to talk to my son. When I turned back, she was gone, disappeared, nowwhere in sight. Of course we started to look for and call for her. Problem is, how to find a small girl among thousands of people if you have no idea which direction she went? After a while I had to draft the security guards to look for her, she was being called in announcements.... She was lost for an hour! She was found when some kind lady realized she was the missing child and brought her over to the security men.
I think I aged ten years in on hour.

According to her own story, she had been looking for us, been petting bunnies and watching dogs (she was found among the audience around the dog ring.)

[Jane]

It's amazing how fast people can get lost in a crowd - especially those short people with the short attention spans.

I can believe you've aged!  Very stressful.

Did you get any pets?

[Ainsley]

That is a NIGHTMARE!  I have lost track of my daughter before - and it really does happen in the blink of an eye - but never for that long!  You are lucky if your hair has not turned completely gray!

[Devin]

Yikes!

[Amanda N]

Losing my children is one of my biggest fears.  I'm so glad she was found safely!

[emma]

My mother said I did it to her when I was about two years old. She said she had me in a push chair, but not strapped in, and she stopped in a shop to look at something when I decided that a chair across the aisle was a better place to sit... She said it was only about a minute, but it might have been ten years before she found me.

[Chelle]

Soo...my Aunt and Uncle used to have a cabin by the lake in a national forest right? My Uncle used to take me on 'shortcut walks' in said forest. This being when I was *very* young. One day I decided to go on one by myself. I found my way home, but they didn't know where I was for some time before I showed up.

Yeah it was bad.

My little sister hid from my mom while in a store once. When mom found her, she was in big trouble. Glad everything turned out okay for you Paula. There's a girl missing in the town I live in right now. She's 19 and they still haven't found her so it can happen to all ages.