Missing!!!!!!

Had a acare today. Went out for dinner at the coffeeshop nearby. Xavier and Keane were looking at the game machines while we sat down to decide what we want to order. In less then 5 minutes, we saw Xavier by himself and Keane was no where in sight.

I almost freaked out. We went around the area to look for him. After a couple of rounds, we decided to expand the perimeter. I started to panic. What if something untoward happened to my son? What if someone grabbed him and made off? What if he ran onto the road and got knocked down by a car? My tears started to surface and my heart started pounding.

I held on to Xavier's hand and started to run. Luckily an old man saw my frantic movements and asked me if I was looking for a little boy. I said YES! He pointed towards our block and said he went towards that direction. I started yelling for Keane. One second later I saw him with a lady about 20 metres away. I ran toward my son and felt nothing but relief when he saw me and cried Mummy.

Surprisingly he was very calm and didn't display any signs of stress. After explaining the consequences to him, Keane began to show some signs of regret. The scariest was that he actually crossed the road in the carpark. Thank God nothing happened to him.

It was our oversight. We took things for granted. We should have sat them down before letting them play with the game machine. At least they will know where to look for us. We shouldn't have sat behind the pillar without keeping them in sight. I guess Keane wandered off because he couldn't see us.

This is a warning to us. And boy did we learn. Thank God it was a small warning. I cannot imagine what could have happened. It's too scary.

Lesson: Never ever take things for granted.