4th of July 2014

Seriously I need to be more diligent at putting my thoughts down...  Such is life!


July 4th was both awesome, terrifying, and exhausting.  We will start with the awesome.  The boys and I headed up to Pasco, Washington to spend a good deal of time with my family.  My parents, both sisters, and (now) my brother all live in Eastern Washington and I don't get to see them near enough.  We left Salt Lake on the 25th of June and will head back on July 18th.  I think that is a great visit!


Dean flew up for the 4th, which made everything just perfect.  We started the day out by enjoying a parade in the city of Pasco.  Floats consisted of pickup trucks with balloons.  THE marching band was the local middle school.  Giant John Deer tractors were the highlight (they were super giant and super cool to look at).  My boys love a parade, so it was well worth it.  Candy was thrown and I watched little children dive for as much as they possibly could get.  My little ones wait for a piece of candy they like and then they go after it.  They only pick up one piece and then sit back down.  So polite.


After the parade we went back to my parents' house to swim in their pool, bbq and just enjoy the afternoon.  I had this small headache starting up around this time.  Dang it!  I did everything under the sun to get my headache to feel better.  By the time 8:00 rolled around and it was time to head over to watch fireworks, I had thrown up and was having trouble focusing.  I stayed home while everyone packed up and headed for fireworks.  I was so sad, but the dogs were very happy I stayed with them. 


Once the fireworks ended I waited for everyone to return.  I was feeling better and was excited to watch Terry (my sisters ex-husband) give us a good display of fireworks on the street.  My phone started ringing about 10:45 and it was my sister, Mindy.  She says, "We found him."


"What? Found Who?", I responded.  She handed the phone to my other sister, Rebecca.  Again, I asked, "What?  Found Who?"


Here is the story, as I know it.


Once the fireworks ended, everyone got up to start packing up things to head home.  Apparently, Reilly decided he was ready to go and just walked off.  He followed a family to their car and tried to get in with them.  The family noticed something was "off" with him and found a police officer to hand him off to.  Reilly ran away from the cop and walked around for a bit.  a crossing guard on a street corner was finally able to restrain him.  I don't think it was easy for her, because he was screaming pretty loud.


Back at the family area, Dean noticed Reilly was missing and it was all hands on deck.  Everyone spread out and started shouting his name.  Braedon began to get upset and so did some of the other cousins.  My mom stayed with all seven grandchildren and tried to keep them calm.  All the eight adults began to fan out across the field to find him.  The longer they searched the more dread and fear started to set in.  Dean was near the end of his wits.  They contacted to police and the police sent out a message that a missing 6 year-old boy with Autism was around.  After searching for 20 minutes the police said they had him.


Dean started running and heard Reilly screaming.  Mindy also heard Reilly scream and took off.  Luckily, Reilly  has a very loud scream.  As Dean got closer to Reilly, he fell down to his knees and scooped the boy up.  I think Reilly was scared too and he was upset.


That's when I got a call from my sister.  Probably best I didn't get the call sooner.  No reason for everyone to freak out!  Plus, when I'm scared I can be really mean! 


Once everyone got home, I went to comfort Reilly.  He was very upset.  Then, I went to comfort Dean.  He sat on the couch and lost control.  He told me he didn't know how he was going to tell me he'd lost our son.  Thankfully, he didn't have to.  One of my parents neighbors came over to the house and he and my dad were able to give Dean a blessing.  They asked the Lord to help calm his nerves.  It made all the difference.


After a bit, Terry gave us some good fireworks and we headed off to bed.


I don't think I can comprehend how it felt for Dean to think he had lost Reilly.  I am so thankful we found him.  Dean is a GREAT dad and he loves his baby boy so much.  I'm glad things turned out so positive. 


Next time, headache or not...I GO!!!  :)