We have been homebound with short trips here and there. We decided we will spend a couple of hours at this big, fancy mall and eat dinner at cheesecake factory on Saturday. MissPot and J woke up from their naps and we all got ready and left. I decided we will play a "sing a song" game. So V got to sing and then it was MissPot's turn. We all decided to sing Hanuman Challisa together. MissPot sang loud and clear and enjoyed herself and we pulled into the mall parking lot just as we finished. I first took her up the escalator and then we took her to ride the carousel. She loved it as expected. We then came back downstairs and went to Gymbo to get her new school outfit. We got a few great finds and when we stepped out I told V that I wanted 10 minutes by myself to look for some new clothes. V was carrying J in the Pikkolo carrier and so he took MissPot with him. MIL and I walked to the Sears next door with the stroller. I looked around 5minutes and decided I didn't like anything and walked out.
V had gone by Godiva and picked up chocolates and gave MissPot one to eat and then he bought her this squishy orange piggy face ball. She was thrilled and focused on that. They next went into the Body Shop at the corner. V apparently picked up what he wanted and saw MissPot going further into the store (granted it is a small shop). He stood right there and scanned the clearance section while his friend called. He picked up and "Hey R - hold on a second" He took a look around and MissPot was not there. He told R he will call back and hung up and walked around. No - she wan NOT THERE. A nuk nuk mami and her older daughter were also in the store when V had entered. V stepped out to see if MissPot was there and couldn't see her. The mami asked V if he was looking for the little girl and V said yes - she said she saw the little girl just a few seconds ago in the store too (all this is happening at the store entrance). Right at that time I walked up on them and V was hoping MissPot saw me coming and had come to me. So I said No and I immediately started panicking. I went into Body Shop and she was really not there. At this point Vand I were really worried. V ran up the escalator that was right next to the Body Shop (MissPot loves riding up the escalator but she always does it only with one of us). I started looking at all the kiosks in the center of that open area to see if she wandered off to look at something dangling and tempting. She was not there. At this point I was also calling out her name loudly hoping she would hear me. I went across to Williams Sonoma thinking the pathrams may have attracted her. The store lady said no she had not seen her but another lady just inquired too so if she sees a little girl she will hold onto her. At this point I started crying and panicking. Turns out the nuk nuk mami's daughter was going down the row of shops and checking if MissPot was there. I saw her doing that and figured if she was covering this row I will go around the corner from the Body Shop and see if she is there. In the meantime V found security upstairs and got him down and told him that we were missing MissPot. I couldn't stop crying and having all these nasty thoughts racing through my mind. I was screaming out her name as I walked down the row towards Nordstrom. My head was spinning and I was growing numb not knowing what to do. Just then, a couple walking towards me saw me in tears and asked me if I was looking for a little girl and I said yes. The lay said "Oh - we saw a little girl wandering here by herself so we just took her to Nordstrom's men's department right up front. They are keeping her enteretained with TV and balloon and we were just going to go tell security". I was soooooo thrilled hoping it was MissPot. I thanked them running towards Nordstrom. I entered the store still in tears and a lady saw me and said your daughter 'Nancy'
is over that way. I ran that way and there she was sitting on the floor looking at her orange squishy piggy ball and talking to the store person with a smile. I ran and she saw me and came running to me. She didn't realize what was going on but started to worry when she saw my tears so I immediatley stopped crying and just held her close. A store guy got her a balloon as I was walking away and she was very happy to get the balloon. I walked back to Body Shop to tell V but he had gone back to scan the upstairs. So I called him and told him and he came back down with a HUGE sign of relief on his face. 3-4 people at Nordstroms and then at Body Shop came and told her "god Bless you child" - we are glad your mommy found you and at that moment I realized it was thanks to all the well wishes that she was safe and I was able to find her quickly.
The fears, the thoughts, the unimaginable things that crossed our minds in those few minutes was just aweful! I would never wish this feeling even on my worst enemies. I finally have calmed enough to write about it but every time I close my eyes I shiver with the thought of what could have gone wrong.
We are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy that she is home safe with us. Thanks to all those well wishes and the Hanuman Challisa!
2 comments:
How scary, total nightmare. Thank god for everything.
I'm very happy everything worked out.
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