Yesterday Katie went missing.

This is the second time she has done this in a month.

(Well....the first time it wasn't her fault,
she told her daddy, who was sleeping in the basement, that she was going to a neighbors house. I just wasn't aware of it and didn't want to wake sleepyhead._

So anyway, back to Katie.

She is free to go outside and ride her bike and color on the driveway and do a thousand cartwheels without telling me she is going out.

I hear the screen door slam and I know when I step outside to check on her,
she will be in our yard.

So yesterday morning,
I got dressed quickly to take Emma to work.

(She's been doing just great at the bank!)

I yelled for Katie,
upstairs and downstairs,
backyard and front yard.

But we had to skedaddle to get Emma to work on time.

So we left knowing I'd return in six minutes (as Emma said)

Katie was not home when I returned.

I walked downstairs to see if she was passed out and dead in the basement.
I went upstairs to look in her bedroom to see if she had bumped her head and was lying lifeless on the floor.
She was not there.

I hollered and hollered.

Well.

Time to start knocking on doors.

First, I tried Katie and Kevin's house.

Being Friday morning, there is no reason they should be home.
They go to daycare or school six days a week.

But I try anyway.
And on the way there I think I will have to bother the other neighbors too.
The neighbors I really am not comfortable knocking on their door.
Cause we just aren't that close.
And they don't even have children close to Katie's age.
And I hate to bother people.

So I knock at Katie and Kevin's house.
And their mom springs to the door.

'Katie Two', she calls.

And Katie Two appears.

Katie: "Oh! I forgot to tell you.!"
Me: "I was really worried."
Katie: "I'm very sorry, mommy."

Sweet, sorry Katie.

And here is where the story is dramatically different than it would have been say, 15 years ago.

15 years ago, I would have grabbed Katie by the wrist,
and marched her right home.
Angry and huffy.
Like Oprah as Sophia in The Color Purple.

But, I've gone soft.

I let her stay and play.
She has been so good about playing alone most of the summer.
And when she got an invitation to play at Katie and Kevin's house....
All thought of telling mommy blew away.

I did decide that when she did come home she would not be making phone calls to Leonie and Sophia or Carrie.

And it turned out that Carrie did call asking for Katie and Katie wasn't home yet.
Ten minutes later when Katie ran in the door.
I told her that Carrie called to play, but she was grounded because she made me so worried.



She should remember from now on, don't you think?


Happy Labor Day!

Are you doing another festival this weekend?

We are going to the Edgertown Thresseree!!!
This is either going to be mildly amusing or the biggest festival bust of the summer.

Either way....I will have my trusty camera along...

And that will entertain me if the tractors are boring as all heck.

Anyway, enjoy contemplating the Labor movement.
What-ever.

Encourage one another,
Donna