Poor Jeremy and Marlene...

I don't know that Jeremy and/or Marlene read here, and I am on my other computer, so I cannot add their email addys to the list, so, just so you know I'm not trying to type behind their backs or anything...

Last Sunday, when we were visiting Jeremy and Marlene, the kids were playing downstairs. Reagan came upstairs with an address stamp caught on her finger. She had a few stamps on her hands and one on her neck. Apparently, Molly had stamped Reagan's hands, but we were pretty sure than Reagan had done her neck. Ben tried to wash it off of her, but it stayed on. No biggie.

Later, Jeremy took the kids outside to play cornhole and otherwise play with the kids. They decided to go for a walk, and Jeremy told Molly and Reagan to go get their shoes. Molly came back out, but, apparently, Reagan did not. Jeremy said they were in the garage for close to ten minutes after Molly came back out before they walked up the street alongside their development.

Flash to Marlene, Ben's Mom, and me, chatting away in the kitchen upstairs. Reagan had been on my lap and left, I presumed to play with the rest of the kids. Killian decided that he wanted to go out with Ben (who had been in the shower) too, and they were looking all over the place for his shoes.

We hear someone from the driveway yelling up to the kitchen, "Hello?" A couple was standing in the driveway, holding Reagan crying and barefoot. I ran down to get her, but couldn't get the door open, Mar came down and helped me get it open. I basically went out, took Reagan, and rushed her inside. The couple talked to Marlene and Ben's Mom, telling them they had found her down the drive (behind Jeremy and Mar's condo), standing next to the electrical box down there. Ben said he thought it was about five condos/townhouses down. The couple said they found her there, crying, and figured out she was from here by the stamp on her hand! They asked her if she lived here, and she said, "No," and, of course, she was right. :) Reagan was crying and said something about Uncle Jacob that I didn't get.

It occured to me that Reagan may have taken Killian's shoes, so Reagan came out with me to find his shoes. They were on the sidewalk along the side of the townhouse, just sitting there in the middle of the sidewalk. My guess then was that she had put on Killian's shoes after looking for and not finding her own (or maybe even finding them and trying to put them on). She followed Jeremy and the kids around the side of the townhouse and figured out that she wasn't going to catch up to them. She turned around, leaving the shoes, but when she got back to the garage she couldn't figure out where to go and kept going--all of the townhouses look the same.

So, why am I reliving this story? Jeremy and Marlene were beside themselves. I, however, having been spared the whole fear of her missing, I guess, LOL, understand completely how it could happen, and really don't blame Jeremy by any means. In fact, I was negligent in the fact that Reagan left me, and I just presumed that she was being watched. We very shortly thereafter packed up our kids and left, and I hope that it didn't appear to Jeremy and Marlene that we were doing it because we were upset or angry about the events that occurred just prior to us leaving, because it really had nothing to do with our departure. It was just a crappy end to a lovely visit for all of us.

I think when Reagan was talking about Uncle Jacob, I think she actually was talking about Jeremy, and the thing that may have upset her the most about the whole thing was that he left her behind. I don't know if that will make him feel any better...What floored me, and nearly makes me cry every time I think about it still, is the fact that that address stamp is what got her back to us quickly. How's that for an indication that everything happens for a reason???

Oh, Jeremy and Marlene, what an adventure you are about to begin! My dear brother and his precious wife are expecting their first baby in less than a month.