Re: Lost Your Child…For a Little While…?
For those of you who are familiar with Grapevine Mills in the DFW area, well my 3 yr old son got lost there years ago.
It was a Saturday and GV Mills was a new mall at the time. It was packed. Myself, and my SIL out with children. she went up ahead with my son, I saw him walking with her. She was not used to having someone so little with her. Well he went up ahead with her. This is where the Rainforest Cafe is located. A few yrs back, the Rainforest Cafe hallway lead directly outside to the parking lot. Now it is Last Call Niemans, I think.
I browsed around at the store I was in, and then started walking to catch up with the others. (it is an indoor horseshoe shaped mall). I walked, and walked, and still did not come across them. Finally I saw them, I had walked almost halfway around the mall. My first instinct was to look out for my son, and i did not see him. My heart was in my mouth; urgently I asked my SIL where my son was. She looked completely surprised and said "I left him with you ". I could’ve strangled her, and told her 'You said you were taking him with you, and i saw him walking with you ".
I told her to hold onto to the other children, and ran back from where I had come from, the others running behind me. I scanned the crowd as best as I could looking for my three yr old, worse case scenarios were popping in my head. In my mind I was trying to remember what he had been wearing, my mind was was blank. As I ran, I tried to find a security guard. Where are they when you need them?
Almost reached the Rainforest Cafe area where I had last seen him, and finally a security guard. This is the era of pagers, not cell phones. Quickly relayed to him what had happened, he spoke to someone over the walkie talkie and he told me to follow him. He asked me what my son was wearing, his name . Gave him the info. What seemed like an eternity, he took me to a hidden door and window and said we have a little boy matching your description, but he is saying his name is “ABC”. I laughed, my son was saying his Daddy’s name, and not his own name. My son had seen me, and was saying 'Mummy" behind the window. I told them he had a birthmark on a certain part of his body. They checked and were convinced I was his mother.
Another security guard brought my son and I remember holding onto him for dear life. Apparently, my son had wondered off towards the Rainforest Cafe exit/entrance and had exited the doors , (one of the multiple entrances to the mall). An older lady entering the mall had come across him, and took him to the nearest security office. I don’t want to think what could’ve happened, just so, so thankful that my son was safe and sound and unhurt. .