the rainbow tree. . .

this is one of those memories that i will never forget, but hope i never have to re-live. . . here goes.

last monday we got home from school, did homework, got snacks etc. afterwards, the boys asked if we could go for a walk in the woods. i agreed. . . we all put our shoes on and got ready to go. i had to step inside the house for a few minutes to put the dog away. i was away from them for no more than five minutes.

when i went back outside, i didn't see or hear the boys. my first thought was that they were hiding, so i called their names several times, but got no response. i called a little more firmly, assuring them that if they were playing a trick on mommy, they had better come out immediately.

at this point, it has been around eight minutes since i had seen or heard from them. i still was not panicking. i thought that they might have possibly gone back up to the house while i was putting the dog away, so i ran back up, stuck my head in the door and yelled for them. no response.

ten minutes had past since i had seen or heard from them. at this point, i was getting a little panicked. i was torn about where i should go and what i should do. if i took of into the woods, and they weren't there, then i would have wasted time that i should have been looking for them. or. . . what if they came home, and i wasn't there. i started yelling. . . and i mean yelling. in my mind, i was thinking. . . 'if they went down the trail, there is NO WAY that they couldn't hear me yelling'. still no response.

fifteen minutes had past since i had seen or heard them. i called rick in a panic, saying that i couldn't find the boys. my neighbor across the street heard me yelling from inside her house, and came to check on me. as soon as she came down, i knew i had to take off through the woods. i handed her my cell phone and asked her to call 911, and probably ran the fastest half mile of my life, all while screaming their names at the top of my lungs.

twenty minutes had passed since i had seen or heard them, and finally i heard them yelling back. they had nearly made it to the creek a good half a mile down the trail from our house. i was so relieved when i heard their little voices calling back, but that was soon overcome by sheer anger. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? i mean, seriously. . . it takes us FOREVER to get down that trail because of all the exploring, smacking of trees with sticks, finding their favorite leaf, etc. we have NEVER made it that far in twenty minutes!!

i made them run the whole half a mile back to the house, where pat was still on the phone with the dispatcher. they called the police off, but they still had to make a trip to our house to hear the story and "see" that the boys were okay. that scared them pretty well into never doing such a thing again.

after they were settled in their rooms, i spent the next five minutes or so vomiting. i was so sick. couldn't believe that i was 'that mom' that let her kids wander off into the woods alone. thank God that he kept them safe.

i calmed myself down, and then spent some time talking with them a little more rationally. as i talked to christian, he said. . . "mom, you said we could meet you at the rainbow tree". i thought for a minute, because i did remember him mentioning the rainbow tree. i figured it was something they had come up with in the back yard. so, i flippantly said "sure", as i walked back into the house to put the dog away.

it turns out the "rainbow tree" was a few doors down. the exact tree that we watched our neighbor cut down about three weeks ago. they said they would meet me there, but there just wasn't a "there" anymore. so. . . they just kept walking, and walking and walking. . . looking for the rainbow tree.

it was quite the adventure for the two of them. i know it won't be long before they will be trucking all through those woods on their own, but for now, the rainbow tree (or what is left of it), is far enough for me!!