Last Friday, it was 60 degrees here in Bangor, Maine, the warmest day we’ve had in four or five months. Despite the mud, all the kids went outside to play, including our adult kiddos. I was working in the living room on my laptop, and getting quite a bit done due to the quiet, when Max (age 9) ran in and said, “Is Mason in here?”

“WHAT?!” I squawked. “NO! WHERE IS HE?!”

Max said, “We don’t know!”

I dropped my laptop and raced outside. Everybody was running around, yelling Mason’s name. Our yard isn’t that big. In fact, it’s quite small and it was obvious that, with five adults and one child running around out there, Mason was NOT in the yard. I ran back inside and started screaming his name. Zach was upstairs and knew the drill. He started running through the upstairs, looking in each room and yelling Mason’s name. I ran out the front door and looked up and down the sidewalk and in our neighbor’s yard, even though Mason would have to be a magician or a genius to get out of the backyard (unless, of course, somebody left the gate open).

I was frantic by this time. Okay. I admit it. I was hysterical, crying, screeching and shaking. I ran back inside and Zach ran by in the living room. He stopped, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me, saying, “He’s here somewhere! We’re going to find him! CALM DOWN!” Fat chance…

By this time, the entire household was in mayhem. People were running back and forth, past each other, through each room, sceaming his name. I heard Ali yelling, “Mason Hoy! You come out right now young man!”

I was in the kitchen, yelling, “FIND HIM! FIND MY BABY!” I then grabbed my cell phone and called 9-1-1. The dispatcher asked me for my address and phone number and then put me through to the local dispatcher. A nano-second before the local dispatcher came on the phone, Ali crouched down and saw Mason under the kitchen table. She started reprimanding him immediately and it was mere seconds before everybody had heard he’d been found, and converged on the kitchen. Mason received several lectures in just a few minutes. I grabbed him and hugged him tighter than ever…before holding him in front of me and telling him how bad he scared Mommy and everybody else. He said he was just playing hide ‘n seek. Unfortunately, he forgot to tell EVERYBODY else there was a game in progress! About that time, Richard, arrived home from the drugstore. He’d missed all the excitement and, after hearing the story, was very happy he had!

Mason came into the living room after that, to sit next to me, and he sat there for over an hour, cuddling with me and not saying anything at all. Awhile later, I squeezed him and said, “I love you soooo much.”

He squeezed back, and whispered, “I’m sorry I scared you.”

This Week’s Masonism:
“Can I eat my cereal like a cat?”

Hugs to all

Angela

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HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY! by Angela Hoy
Using Angela’s MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years, and record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook. Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography! **Also works for biographies and memoirs.**