It has been about a month since our last update. I've collected lots pictures and video. Had grand plans to update the world wide web with still and moving pictures of what we believe are the most precious kids in the world. Thought I might also update y'all on the killer stone patio we built Easter weekend. Instead I'm piecing together the single most horrific moment of our life.
We have been wanting to go down to Buda for their annual wiener dog races. The last few years Holly was pregnant and then the boys were too small. This year we finally thought we had it together and could have fun out there with the dogs...and we did, until we lost Jordan.
We got to Buda and hit the shuttle parking area. The boys (ok, Holly and I) were really excited to see the shuttles to the festival area were school buses. The boys, T-Bone and Jezebel all got their first ride in a school bus. FYI...they do not make school buses for 55 pound plus dogs. Slow ride through traffic to the park, but not long after we are finally there walking around. T-Bone and Jezebel got treats as soon as we walked in the door. They spit them out. They have never really been in to those healthy, all-natural, organic treats. We walked passed the first couple tents and the dogs wet their paws in some wading pools. The boys decided they'd like to get down and walk. Sure, no problem. We are in pretty wide aisle with boothes on both sides. We just walked down a few boothes when a man and his little girl approached us and asked if he could pet Jezebel and give her a treat. It was another organic buffalo jerky type treat, but that's besides the point. Turns out huskies are his "dream dog" and he starts asking us question about what it was like to raise her, especially in the heat of Texas.
Our lovely little baby girl is getting some attention and we are more than happy to answer the questions of the nice man with an eye for beauty. Holly and I both had a kid in our vision while we talked. After what was maybe a couple minutes, Holly asks, "where is Jordan?" Just another panicked question when she loses sight of one of the boys for 2 seconds. I look around, he is probably standing right behind her. I look around, still looking, and now the panic is creeping in. Finally Mike Tyson lands a haymaker, right on the jaw, Jordan is gone. I am freaking out, trying to hold back the fear, trying to formulate a plan, trying to not run through all the horrific possibilities in my head. All I can think is to rush to the entrance and make sure no one is trying to leave with him.
We are both shouting for Jordan as I make my way back towards the entrance. A festival worker/volunteer walks up to Holly and I walk back over. She tells Holly to stay put. I give T-Bone to Holly and she has both dogs now. I take Jeremy and start walking with the lady giving her all Jordan's details. She wants to call the cops and let the park know a kid is lost. She stops walking to use the phone and at this point I told her everything, so I tell her I'm heading for the entrance. As I'm walking away a couple tells me they saw a lady walking with a little boy and point the direction they went, right around a big tent. I walk to the corner of the tent and look around and don't see anything. I ask the couple to please come show me where the lady was headed, they just said "around the tent" and now I'm pissed that they would just come walk with me and see if they can find the lady they just saw walking by. And then...
"Frank!" Someone is calling my name and underneath the big tent is the one couple we came to see. Lori was there under the tent with Jordan and I think the lady was there too. I can't even remember anymore. If she was there, I didn't see her. I saw Lori and Jordan and then it was all Jordan. Looking back, Jordan walked away and he couldn't have been away from us for more than 3-5 minutes. He walked away, a lady saw him alone and confused. She must have asked him something about wanting to find "mommy" and "daddy" and he trusted her and took her hand. They walked passed the big tent Lori and Marcos were under and Lori thought she recognized Jordan. The lady and Jordan walked up right behind them and she heard the lady talking to paramedics about a lost little boy. That is when Lori jumped saying she knew the little boy, Jeremy or Jordan. To her credit, we can't always get their names straight either. With Jordan's long curly hair now, they are starting to look a lot alike too. Lori said she started talking to Jordan and tried to use familiar words he would recognize, like Jeremy, Jordan, T-Bone. She had just told Marcos to call me when they saw me and called me over.
It is difficult to really piece the time lapse together...it was one of those moments where people say the minutes felt like hours. In all, I'm guessing it close to 5 minutes that Jordan was away from us. All I remember was begging, over and over again, "please God." Holly had to try and keep it together while she just stayed in the area where we lost him. As soon as I picked up Jordan and I told Lori I had to go get Holly right away. Holly spotted me and the boys almost instantly as soon as I walked out of the tent towards her. She ran over and with every step her face melted more and more. She held Jordan and sobbed. People who had been helping were trying their best to not let us think we were idiots for losing our kid and talked about how they lost their kid in Wal-mart. Jordan finally needed to come back to daddy cause momma's suffocating hugs and sobs were freakin' him out a bit.
We've seen too much tragedy recently with some old friends losing their infant son to illness and other's discovering their healthy 7 year old boy suddenly lost his sight because of a brain tumor. Their tragedies helped me remember how blessed I was. Somehow, that started to fade as I walked around the park looking for my boy thinking I didn't hug him enough and I'd never see him again. I got another reminder this weekend not to take my family for granted (anyone else ever want to say "granite"). I pray I never have to experience that feeling again.
We were able to recover and semi-enjoy the rest of the day. It got better pretty quickly and Jordan had no idea anything messed up had just happened. We got to see Marcos and Lori's dog race. Oscar and Maya. Maya came up short in her race, but Oscar finished top 2 and advanced to the next round. In the next round Oscar got a great jump coming out of the gate, but swerved across a couple lanes and lost focus on the finish line for just a second. It was enough to keep him from advancing again. He did get featured on the
http://welcometokyle.com/ homepage though. Way to go Oscar!
