This morning I left the house about 6:40 am to get Brandon to the high school at 7:00to leave for Band Camp (as far as I knew; the other kids were sleeping). I received a call from Brandon about 8:00 telling me he had forgotten his swim trunks (and allergy/asthma meds!); so all morning I was trying to get prescriptions filled and calling Sarah to "find" his trunks at home! About 10:00 I received a call on my cell phone from an unknown number. When I answered I learned that I was talking to a guy from the Health and Welfare office in Twin Falls, Idaho. He said they had picked up a little boy about 5 years-old by the name of Matthew Nite that was wandering the streets of Twin Falls at 6:45 this morning!!
At this point, I was panick-stricken!! He asked where I worked and could he come and have me identify the boy in pictures...and did I know where my son was. When I explained that my daughter, Sarah, was at home with him while I was working, he confirmed that Matthew had identified that he had a sister named Sarah; and another named, "Briella". I was just SICK to my stomach...but kept thinking "at least he's safe with the authorities" and "How the HECK did he end up in Twin Falls!?!". The guy asked me to call home and confirm if he was there or not.
I called Sarah and she didn't know where he was, but said he was "probably at Erin's house". She said she had seen him that morning in the bathroom about 8:00 or 9:00 (the panic began to ease some at this point because I knew it took longer to drive to Twin Falls than an hour). She walked to Erin's and was able to find him safely there!
As I was returning the guy's phone call, part of me was expecting him not to answer, and I thought maybe somebody was playing a CRUEL, SICK JOKE! He did answer and apologized for giving me ANXIETY!! Being the worrier that I am...I was still worried about giving all this info to a stranger: where I work, who watches the kids, their names, etc. About 11:00, I called our neighbor, who is a police officer, and had him verify the story for me.
Indeed, there was a boy found wandering the streets this morning...they had since found the mother, who's last name is different; and reunited him with his family. He does have a sister named Sarah, but he had misprounounced the other sister's name. When they pulled up information in the system, they "thought" he might have been saying "Briella". They had called my house and talked to Sarah, questioning her about a "Matthew" living there; and if he was visiting "Grandma, in Twin Falls". She gave them my cell number to call me (which was another question I had running through my head when he was talking to me).
Needless to say, I AM SO RELIEVED THAT MY KIDS ARE SAFE!!!! It's been a CRAZY day!
13 years ago
