It happened. A moment I never wanted us to experience. Tonight we lost our daughter. We were at the mall, and popped into the Disney Store to look around. Jason was letting me shop, and was keeping an eye on Evie. I was still keeping track of where they were too. Two sets of eyes are better than one with this girl. In one second she took a turn, and we lost sight of her. With having worked in retail for 5 years I quickly got a staff members attention, let her know my daughter was missing and gave her a description and her name. The staff member called “Code Adam” over her walkie talkie so the other staff could know. All the staff stopped what they were doing, and started searching for her. Jason rushed out to make sure she hadn’t zoomed out of the front of the store, I booked it around the inside of the store calling her name. It was the worst, panic and prayer filled minutes I have ever experienced. Thankfully a staff member spotted her finally. I burst into tears the moment I swept Evie up into my arms. I am so thankful for everyone’s quick action, I couldn’t thank the staff there enough. I ended up having to sit for a couple of minutes to collect myself, while Evie played in their little colouring and video clip area and Jason kept a very close eye on her.
The emotion we went through I would hope no one else would ever have to go through, but I know several friend’s of mine who have gone through this too. If you ever find yourself in a similar moment please find a staff member fast, be descriptive of their outfit and what they look like, and let the staff know your child’s age. Often when we go out I also take a moment to capture a photo of Evie, this way we have a recent photo. I was so worried that this may have been a moment where I would have needed that photo. I also learned tonight that Evie will now be handcuffed to us when we go on our family vacation soon.
And in other news… the Disney Store has buy one get one for $1 on most of their stuffies!
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This has happened twice with Calvin, who has no fear and is not shy.
The first was at the Canada Day event this past summer in Langley. My parents and also my brother and his family was there, but somehow Calvin escaped somewhere amungst the hundreds of people and dozens of booths. Obviously we found him without too much time lost. He had found an open area to run around in.
The second time was at a weekday parents and tots gathering at our church. All of a sudden he was gone. We all searched the church, and he was found outside wandering down the street a few houses down.
I don’t know what it is about my personality, but I wasn’t super worried either time. It’s actually kind of worrisome that I don’t worry!
Wow that must have been super scary!
-Brandy
brandymars.blogspot.ca
I have been there.
We were in a Toys R Us store in the mall, I guess when I said “You have her right?”, Daddy nodded.. I walked away to look at something and came back a few minutes later to him standing there in the same spot, but no Livvy, he took his eyes off her for a split second and she was gone. I panicked, having also worked retail I immediately ran to the front of the store yelling her name and alerting staff to a missing child, they were amazing, every staff member gathered, quickly got a description and split from the front to the back of the store sweeping it, one on the phone with security, while I kept an eye in the busy mall. It was terrifying. The little sneak had found her way around a barricade and was in the STORAGE AREA. There is no words to describe how that few moments feels like a lifetime, the world stands still, your heart stops, your mind runs a million miles a minute.
Daddy made me feel amazing though, afterwards he kept telling me how thankful he was that I ran to the front of the store and knew what to do, because he was so scared he was in full panic mode.
Thank you for sharing your story, we have all been there!
We had a monkey harness backpack thing for Aiden when he was Evie’s age. It was wonderful. We are honestly debating bringing it when we go to Disneyland at the end of the month. Glad you guys found her quickly.
Agi:)
Yikes! That really is one of those “worst fear” moments..so glad you found Evie.
My goodness, so scary. You really hit the nail on the head though- find an employee and let them know. They will spring into action on your behalf!