Lost and Found

Yesterday was Allie's birthday party. Usually the day of a party I am running around like a chicken with my head chopped off, but this day was actually very calm, except for one minor incident. At lunch time we had seven kids here - my 4, my 2 nephews and a neighborhood kid. No, it wasn't party time yet. We - my mom, Kelly & I - were trying to feed the masses when Jon Tyler went missing. We realized it when we had all the older kids seated and eating and then we couldn't find him. Kelly said she'd just come from upstairs and he wasn't there. I ran outside and checked his usually hiding spot - the van. I didn't see him in our yard anywhere. I ran upstairs to check Corey's room, just in case. Still nowhere to be found. I checked my neighbor's garage and my mom started around the block. My neighbor across the street asked what we were looking for and when Mom told her, she started walking in the other direction. The older kids began searching too and I was near panic thinking that finally, I had really lost my child. (I say finally because he's given us plenty of short scares in the past.) Kelly remembered that the night before, he and Rayden had been playing in Corey's room when he got under Corey's bed. He has one of those captain type beds, up a little higher with storage under it. She ran back and opened the door and called his name. She didn't hear or see him in there. She started back down the stairs when she heard him. He was really under that bed and he was so quiet and it was so dark that when she opened it she couldn't find him. I've never been so relieved in all my life. We called to Mom and the neighbor that we'd found him and everything returned to normal - relatively speaking. The neighborhood kid remarked, "Boy, I would wanna play hide and seek with him." I personally think he has a new superpower - the ability to make 5 minutes seem like 25.