Searching for a lost boy in Maine

[JoyeAustin]

Earlier this afternoon, a neighbor stopped by my parents' house and told them a little boy, about five or six, was walking by himself down our heavily wooded road. When our neighbor asked the little boy who he was, the boy wouldn't tell him or speak to him, so our neighbor wanted to let us know he might come by our house soon.

So I put my sneakers on, put Rose in her stroller, and we set off down the road to see if we could find this little boy. From my parents' house to the end of the road, about a mile, there are no other houses and it's all woods. As I set out with Rosie, I listened to the thunder rumbling in the hills behind us, and I looked in to dark trees along the side of the road, and I imagined how frightening it could be for a lost child. The deer flies swarmed us within moments and I really hoped this kid at least had been sprayed with bug repellent at some point during the day.

I walked very briskly but didn't come across him until the end of the road, when I saw a car parked in front of our neighbor's house with a man by it, handing a phone back to a woman near him. I knew right away he was the father or grandfather of this boy, and as I got closer I saw the kid in the front seat of the car. He had been found.

"You found him!" I said to the man, and he nodded with relief. My neighbor, who had alerted us in the first place about the boy, was enthusiastically chattering in his yard, but I'm hard of hearing so who knows what he was saying.

"I was looking for you!" I said to the boy in the car, and then Rosie and I turned around and walked back home. I was glad the boy had been found before it had gotten dark. I was glad I hadn't been faced with trying to convince a scared and distrustful child, who had probably been taught not to talk to strangers, that I was there to help him. Mostly, I was glad it hadn't been my own five year old son out there by himself, on long country roads.

Then I was just happy I had been able to take a walk with Rosie.

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[lesamarie1115]

Jul. 4, 2009 at 1:26 PM

omg, i could not imagine that happening to my grandsons. I think I would freak out. I am good under pressure or so I thought. Now i am not so sure If I could be good under pressure when it comes to my Babies, so when someone like you come along to help, to think ,to take action I can not help but to be grateful. Also i have never thought about telling my grandsons about the mother ideal..Sounds like you got some good feed back.....Have a great day.  lesamarie1115

[evwsquared]

Jul. 4, 2009 at 1:35 PM

I think that looking for a woman with children is a pretty good idea.

Have you SEEN some of these women??  I'd hate for my kid to run into, oh. Joye or Kristin.

=)

lol

That's actually a pretty good idea.  I think I read something similar here a long time ago.  Strangers aren't always bad.

[ivansmom07]

Jul. 4, 2009 at 1:39 PM

Here is the journal I was talking about:

 

[momof3boyz1grl]

Jul. 4, 2009 at 8:56 PM I am glad that he is now safe but why didn't your neighbor call the cops and keep him in sight? I would never let a child out of my sight even if I was in my PJ's or robe or something. He was around 5 years old and why would you let him keep walking?

[Lb128f]

Jul. 5, 2009 at 12:15 AM

Scary.

[Multiloquent]

Jul. 5, 2009 at 5:12 AM

That was awesome! Its good to hear about happy endings.

[MemaSu]

Jul. 5, 2009 at 9:43 AM

As a Mom who has been through this ( yup- it was Joye who was my wanderer) I can say that the fright stays with you a long time. Small children are naturally curious, & adventurous. Joye retraced a route I had taken with her in a stroller- Up to the the local store in the small village we lived in at the time. I had the police out & my husband home from work before she was finally found at the store, looking for ME, who of course, was frantic at home. This child disappeared from the safety of her yard in less than 2 minutes. She was 2 years old at the time.

Rest assured that she stayed closer to home after that- at least until she was a bit older!!