Panic

I've been subbing a lot lately ... like (almost) every day. (Don't know how you mom's that work full time do it!) I've also been in the same class in Kindergarten this week for two days and have two more days to go, so Calissa should know where to come after school, right?

Every day I'm subbing I remind Conner and Calissa in the morning as we are getting to school where to come after school. They also come with me to the classroom before the day starts. Occasionally, Calissa will forget (but hasn't in a while) and I'll find her in front of the school wondering where Conner and I are.

Today was an early out day and Conner came in to my class after school as I was eating my lunch. Calissa didn't come in, but I just figured she had decided to go to the library to check out a book for a book report and was hanging out with Mrs. McDermont in the library. I headed over to the library with Conner to see what she was up to. She wasn't there and Mrs. McDermont hadn't seen her. I didn't worry ... just figured she was chatting with a friend somewhere or stopping in a classroom to visit with a teacher. After another 5 minutes or so I decided to go looking for her and after checking classrooms and not finding her, some wonderful teachers joined in the search. We found Calissa's sub for the day who didn't know where she was, but had said that as they were standing in line to leave she had said how excited she was to come hang out in the classroom I was in because she was going to get to watch a movie. We walked down the halls, checking all classrooms 3 or 4 times, checked all the bathrooms, office, even the day care. The office was asking if she could have been picked up by someone else (no), could have walked home (no ... live to far away), or gone home with a friend (no). They did 2 or 3 calls for Calissa over the loud speaker at school. I even called my mom to see if she had somehow picked her up because she was sick and they forgot I was at the school. I headed back to the classroom to pick up my phone to see if anyone had called. As we were scouring the school one last time 30 minutes after the bell had rung I was wondering how I was going to tell Travis that Calissa was missing. I was just heading towards the office to talk with all who had been looking for her to tell them we were going to have to call the police when she showed up! She was crying and I was trying hard not to cry when I gave her a hug!

She had walked her friend to her car (since her friend was on crutches and she carried her backpack). Her friends mom was helping with the carpool and she invited Calissa to sit in her car and have a snack while they waited. Calissa lost track of the time and figured since she was going to be at the school for 2 hours waiting for me, that she could have a snack and chat with a friend for a few minutes. This is not something that Calissa would usually do which is why we were so worried. I don't think I can convey the panic that I had felt (and some of the other teachers admitted to feeling later).

I was so grateful for the wonderful staff and friends that helped look for her. Still have a sick feeling in my stomach 4 hours later! Not something I ever want to repeat, but I'm grateful for a happy ending. Conner was so worried about her too as he was helping us look. (I could tell because he was so nice to her after we got back to the classroom!) I called my mom back and told her that we had found her shortly after I had talked to her. She said as soon as she got off the phone she had said a prayer and we found her soon after. I know that helped! I told Calissa tonight that she stayed "lost" long enough for me to get past being mad and I was just grateful that she was OK.

Maybe I should have titled the post "grateful" because that's how I'm feeling right now!