Every mother’s worst nightmare happened; Rebecca was taken.
Without going into gory detail, her father and his girlfriend figured out where she was volunteering and showed up, taking her phone from her and getting her into their car. They headed to the city and she managed to talk them into giving her phone back and she sent a text to me. They brought her back, putting her out on the side of the frontage road where she finally had a meltdown. I picked her up, calmed her down and told her how proud I was of her.
She kept her wits about her and I did not have to be Liam Neeson to get her back. Her sibs were essential in helping this turn out well and it showed us that we have a pretty good support system in place for her.
But “pretty good” leaves room for improvement. Her phone is her lifeline; in addition to being able to dial 911, all her contacts are in there and with the convenience of speed dial I am not sure what she has memorized. Do any of us memorize phone numbers any more? If we were rattled could we remember them?
The dust settled and appropriate legal aid was secured but these thoughts haunted me for a few days. What if she hadn’t been able to talk them into giving her back her phone? “What if” questions are pointless unless they lead to some sort of solution and that is what I threw out to the Universe asking for help….this episode showed me a weakness in the plan to keep her safe…..what else needed to be done? We had guardianship established, phone programmed correctly, when needed her sibs and I could swing into action; so what was I missing?
The next morning I woke up knowing. I have found that if I have a question or problem and offer it up for help, clarity and answers quite often bubble up through my consciousness in the still, uncluttered moments between sleeping and waking.
The answer was her Road ID! I was introduced to Road ID in the early ’90s when I was training for my first marathon. I was working in the Emergency Department at the time and knew all too well the difficulty of caring for sick and injured people who were unable to communicate; since then I have purchased many for family and friends. I think I have had four so far.
When Rebecca needed a medical alert type of ID we turned to Road ID for that, too. So many styles and she loved the fun logos and sayings for the FIXX model! Her current fave is the wrist ID Elite, which she wears all the time.
There it was; even if she had not been able to use her phone, she would have access to her contact numbers on her Road ID! The knowing melted me into a puddle of relief; I had not realized how tightly wound I had been about this.
Now I am even more of a Road ID fan and yes, I think everyone should have one…..maybe two. Go to their website from the link at the bottom of my blog and I might even get a commission if you buy one, and thank you if that’s what you do! If you don’t go there from here that’s OK, too…just get one!
I laughingly say that if I am running in the hills and get eaten by a bear at least my Road ID will be left behind but now the peace of mind for me with Rebecca is what wins this race.
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