Jacob's Little Adventure

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare – to search for your child only to discover he isn’t where he should be. To realize your child is…missing.

Last Wednesday morning started out like a million other mornings have at the Duncan house. Heath is typically the first one of us to get up. He has to leave the house fairly early if he wants to make it to work on time. Once he is up, I’m close behind. On weekday mornings, Jacob usually stumbles out of bed a little before 7:00, giving him just enough time to tell his Daddy goodbye before Heath walks out the door. On this particular morning, however, Jacob slept late. It’s happened before. I didn’t think anything of it. Before I jumped in the shower, I walked down the hall to check on him. Jacob was sound asleep in his bed. He was curled up in a ball with his bottom in the air. He had a pillow over his head and another covering his feet. I lifted the top pillow to allow him a little more air to breathe. He didn’t wake up. So, I ran back down the hall to the shower.

By the end of my shower, something told me to go check on Jacob again. I had heard noises and thought he might be dragging the kitchen chairs around the kitchen or pulling his little blue table through the house. After all, chairs and little tables make terrific stepladders and can help three year olds reach ANYTHING. He’s done this several times before and the noises I heard would have me believe he was doing it again. I peeked in the living room and kitchen. Not a sound. Not a chair or table out of place. I called his name. No answer. I walked into his room. His bed was empty, except for the sea of stuffed animals he insists on sleeping with every night. I called his name again and peeked into Annabelle’s room. She was sound asleep in her crib, curled up in a ball the same way her brother had been. Still no Jacob. I walked into the living room and saw that the front door was open. Mr. Monkey’s cousin (Jacob’s cherished monkey blanket) was lying on the floor beside the door. My heart sank a little. I kept calling Jacob and searched the house, including the closets and pantry (He plays in the pantry sometimes. For some reason, he likes it in there). No Jacob. My heart sank a lot. I opened all the blinds in the house, looking through every window. Nothing. I ran outside and looked around the house. I looked towards the neighborhood playground which is just a few houses down from ours. Nothing. My heart sank to the bottom of my feet. I started to panic. Jacob was missing and I didn’t know what to do. I was completely hysterical and not thinking clearly at all. I called Heath, then dialed 911.

The 911 operator stayed on the phone with me until an officer arrived. I paced the house as I answered her questions: “How old is he?” “How tall is he?” “How much does he weigh?” “What color is his hair?” “And eyes?” “What was he wearing when you last saw him?” I pictured him standing there in his little blue monkey pajamas and prayed that he was safe. I told the operator I was very concerned because his monkey blanket was on the floor by the front door. He doesn’t go ANYWHERE without that blanket. By the time the officer arrived, I was a complete wreck. I hung up with the 911 operator and opened the door to greet the policeman. “We found him,” he said. “You did?!?!” I replied. “Where is he??????” He told me a lady had found him up the street by the stop sign. She picked him up, took him to her house and called the police. He was safe. I started to cry even harder, this time because I was sooooo happy and relieved that he was ok. I thanked God for answering my prayers. The officer said, “So…this has never happened to you before???” I immediately responded, “NO!” I was thinking, “What? Has this happened to me before? What kind of question is that? Is this really a common occurrence?” I’ve since been told it is common…just not common to me.

Within a couple more minutes, another officer pulled up in front of my house. Jacob was sitting in the front seat of her car. The officer opened Jacob’s door and brought him to me. I recognized her. She had pulled us over for speeding one Sunday afternoon coming home from church. She was nice and only gave us a warning. Now, here she was bringing my precious Jacob back to me. I like her. :)

I’ve never been so happy in all my life. I thanked the officers several times and walked back inside to call Heath and let him know Jacob was safe and back at home. When I called him earlier, he immediately turned his car around to drive back to our house. He got home just a few minutes after Jacob.

So how did this happen? Well, Jacob usually wakes up before Heath leaves for work. He tells his Daddy goodbye, then typically watches Playhouse Disney while I get ready. There have been several mornings, though, when he has slept in a little later and hasn’t gotten out of bed before Heath leaves. On these mornings, if I am in the shower when he wakes up, he’ll walk into the bathroom and announce himself with a big “HEH-YOOO! (Hello)!” Then he either gets into our bed or lays somewhere on the bedroom floor until I am finished. That’s just what he has ALWAYS done.

Last Wednesday morning, when he woke up, I guess he had it in his head that he wanted to tell his Daddy something. Jacob told me, “I was screaming so hard, ‘I hafta tell Daddy something! I hafta tell Daddy something!’” Jacob has never been able to unlock the storm door. I have seen him unlock the front door, but when he reached the storm door, no such luck. The lock can be really difficult to turn sometimes, even for me. Not last Wednesday, apparently. I imagine, when Jacob was able to unlock the storm door, he was beside himself with excitement and shock. I’m thinking it was a moment similar to the freedom cry of Braveheart. Jacob dropped Mr. Monkey’s cousin to the floor and just ran. He had opened that door and he was going to find his daddy!

Throughout the remainder of the day, Jacob gave me his side of the story in bits and pieces. He rode in a police car and one of the lights didn’t work. A lady picked him up in a red car. There were two little boys with her. The boys shared a blanket with him and they all watched Clifford on TV. According to Jacob, one of the boys said, “Do you go to school?” Jacob replied, “No, I go to church!” Jacob said the boy kept saying, “No, you go to school!” Jacob kept saying, “NO! I GO TO CHURCH!” I picture Jacob sitting there watching TV with his new friends asking, “Hey, do you have any snacks?” To him, this was an adventure. It was fun. Later that night, Heath said to Jacob, “What were you doing out there? You could have been hit by a car!” Jacob’s response? He put his hand up like he was giving a stop signal. “No….cars stop for me!” he said. I had wondered if he was walking down the street or on the sidewalk. That gave me my answer and it wasn’t the one I wanted to hear.

The police officers gave me the address of the lady who saved Jacob that day and I was anxious to talk to her. I wanted to thank her and fill in the gaps of Jacob’s story. The next day, I drove to her house, which turned out to be just around the corner from ours. Twice, I drove over, and twice, she wasn’t at home. Later that night, around 7:00, she showed up at our house. She wanted to check on Jacob and make sure he was ok.

She had originally seen Jacob close to the stop sign at the corner of our street and hers. She and her kids were getting in the car. By the time they drove out, Jacob was running at full speed and was already close to the neighborhood entrance. That is a pretty good distance from our house. He was alone, barefooted, running down the middle of the street in his pajamas and it was thirty-seven degrees. She said she was surprised at the number of cars that were passing and going around him. No one stopped. She rolled down her window and yelled to him, “Stop running!” Jacob kept truckin’. She yelled again and finally got his attention. He stopped running and looked at her. She got him to get in the car with her.

Now, as parents, we teach our children not to talk to strangers and to NEVER, under any circumstances, get into a car with a stranger. But this situation was different. I don’t even like to think about what could have happened to him if he hadn’t gotten into the car with this lady. A couple more seconds of running and he would have been out on the busy main road. I believe GOD placed HER there at that exact moment in time. Things could have also turned out differently had it been someone else who picked him up and not her. I really don’t want to think about that either.

Anyway, she asked Jacob what he was doing and he told her he had to tell his Daddy something. She told him she would help him find his Daddy. She called the police and they drove back to her house. When they got there, she put a pair of socks on him to warm up his cold little feet. Then, Jacob and her kids sat down together to watch Clifford. She has a little girl (5) and a little boy (3). Soon after, the police called to say he was reported missing, so they waited on the officer to arrive. She said Jacob didn’t really seem scared until the police got there. Like I said, I picture him at their house, making himself at home asking if he can have a snack. The police officer told him she was going to take him back to his mommy. Jacob willingly got into the car and they drove away.

I can’t tell you how relieved I am that Jacob is home and unharmed. I know God had his hand on him the whole time. There are so many “could have” “would have” should haves” that I just can’t think about it anymore. All I can do is thank God for keeping Jacob safe and for placing that lady, who is brand new to the neighborhood, at that specific moment in time to see Jacob and pick him up. God is so, so good. And, boy, that’s an understatement, huh?

For Jacob, I believe this incident was an exciting adventure – the police car, the police lights, watching Clifford with some new friends, etc…. For me, it was the most horrifying experience of my life. It is one story I could definitely live without. But, that being said, you better believe we’ll be pulling this story out one day…you know, like at the rehearsal dinner before his wedding or something. It’ll be good for that, right? :)