Reports Mom of Many in Mendota Heights: “The Winter Carnival is upon us. For me, it’s a tradition steeped with hundreds of wonderful memories and two bad ones. Today I thought I’d share one of the bad ones with BB readers. This story is forever frozen in my mind. Thankfully it has a happy ending!
“Nine years ago, Dad of Many was on a business trip, so I decided to do a fun outing with the kiddos. (We had five at the time.) It was the evening of the Torchlight Parade, and I wanted to get them out of the house.
“After bundling all of them up, we headed downtown and found a great spectators’ spot near the old Bockstruck Jewelers. I had the baby girl on my back, and her big brothers inched ahead of me a few feet so that they could sit on the curb and see the Winds go by with their beautiful princesses, the bouncing girl fly into the air, and, of course, King Boreas Rex ride by with his Queen of the Snows.
“Knowing that the parade ends with the Vulcans, I called the kiddos to me when I spotted their infamous fire truck, illuminated by torches, in the distance. As I gathered them to my side, I noticed that the 5-year-old was missing. He had gotten swept away with the crowd toward Rice Park! We screamed ‘Joey, Joey!’ – but he wasn’t anywhere in sight. Just then, two mounted police came to our aid. We were hopeful that, from their vantage point, they might spot a small, curly-haired boy. But it was to no avail.
“They instructed me to go to the Lost and Found tent at the Minnesota Mutual (Securian) building – which was in the opposite direction. Feeling like we were abandoning Joey, but knowing that the officers would continue to search, we jogged to the Lost and Found.
“By now, the older ones were cold and complaining. I snapped at them: ‘How can you act selfishly when your little brother is missing!’ To keep them from whining, I had them pray with this chant: ‘Good St. Anthony, please come around, someone’s lost and can’t be found!’
“After enduring a very heart-heavy trek, we finally arrived at our destination. We saw a squad car pull up to the tent. A nice policewoman got out, and I ran to her. The back door opened, and there was our Joey. I pulled him into my arms, and we cried and cried. I was so grateful to have him back, safe and sound!
“The plot thickens. When we arrived at our warm home across the Mississippi, I put the kiddos to bed. Of course we were emotionally and physically exhausted. Since the hubby was still out of town, I thought I’d better call him and share this tale. All of a sudden, the dog went ballistic – barking like a ‘banshee’ as he ran to all the windows. I saw men with flashlights going around the perimeter of our house. What the heck? I started to really lose it, until I realized it was the police. Now what? I guess in all the commotion, I’d set off the silent alarm – unaware that we even had such a thing.
“The next Monday, I shared this story with the teachers and other moms at preschool. I was still upset as I laid before them every mother’s nightmare: having a child get lost. The teacher, who happens to be married to my uncle, exclaimed: ‘My sisters are the ones who found Joey and took him to the police. I was at a family party, and they were telling a story of how they found this little lost boy at the Torchlight Parade. Now I’ll have to tell them it was our Joey!’ Eventually we were able to thank those nice ladies for rescuing Child No. 3. And needless to say [Bulletin Board says: Oh, well], I don’t bring the kiddos on major excursions by myself anymore!”
Copyright 2007 Pioneer Press.
