My Nightmare

The thing Taylor looked forward to most about starting Kindergarten is what scared me the most- riding the bus. She couldn't wait to be a big kid and get on the big yellow bus. But growing up I remember all the bad things that happened on the bus and yes I realize that comparing the elementary school bus with riding the HS track bus is not exactly fair but I was still scared to send her. I woke up the first day of school in a cold sweat because of the nightmare I had just had. Taylor woke up bouncing off the walls, dressed for school hours before the bus would pick her up, too excited to even eat her breakfast. I took all the usual precautions: pointed out all the landmarks she needed to pass before getting off the bus, introduced her to the kids at her stop that she would get off with, and told her to never get off the bus if I wasn't there to pick her up.

After school I found myself standing at the bus stop as kid after kid that wasn't mine filed off the bus. I got more anxious as the older kids started exiting the bus. Did Taylor sit in the back? I specifically told her to sit in the front with the younger children! When the last kid got off the bus I was sprinting before my brain registered what was really wrong. I stuck my arm out to stop the closing doors.

"My daughter didn't get off," I explained to the surprised bus driver. I called her name, there was no answer. I climbed the steps and started to scan the seats...no Taylor.

I turned on the driver who seemed annoyed that I was slowing down her route. I described Taylor to her and she couldn't give me any information, she didn't even know if Taylor had gotten on the bus in the first place. The Driver finally shrugged and suggested "Maybe she got off at the wrong stop."

I stared at her in horror and she looked back at me with impatience. We were the second to the last stop on the route. We live at the very edge of town. Taylor could be wandering alone anywhere in Springville completely lost.

I numbly descended the steps trying to focus so that I could decide what I needed to do next. Run home and call the school or drive there myself...

"I think your daughter got off the stop right before this one." I looked down to see a strange girl I had never seen before. She was around seven or eight with blonde pigtails. Was she just guessing? How many girls look like the Taylor I had just described to the bus driver got off at that stop?

My mouth was dry and I barely choked out a quick "thank you" before running back to my car where my other two daughters were sleeping. The bus stop before Taylor's was on the same road. It was far but still close enough that we could see the bus stop there before it headed to our stop.

When I arrived the bus stop was deserted. A few mothers stood outside their homes chatting. In the back of my mind I was hoping I wasn't wasting time by not getting to the school or calling the police as I described Taylor to the mothers.

I saw the pity in their eyes as they shook their heads. They hadn't seen her and now I was desperate. I turned to run back to my idling car.

"Wait. I saw a girl that looked like that." A woman was walking towards me. She pointed down a street. "She followed the group of kids that got off the bus."

My temporary hope vanished as I looked down the empty street she pointed to. There was nothing else to do. I ran down the street and up the next yelling her name. At the top of the street I got in my car and drove it to the next set of streets. I ran down again and up the next, through a field yelling her name at the top of my lungs.

I repeated this again and again, stopping my frantic run only to describe my daughter to more strangers. None of which had seen her. My breath was coming in ragged gulps now and my body was shaking. Where could she be?

I was about to give up and head to the school when the road curved and there walking determindly with her eyes focused in front of her and hauling her oversized pink backpack was Taylor. The dread that clenched my heart released and I pulled up beside her. She quickly moved away from my car without looking to see who it was.

Jumping out of the car I called her name with a shaky laugh. She turned and her brave facade melted to tears as she rushed into my outstretched arms. We crumpled to the street crying with relief.

Taylor was lost for over twenty minutes and they were the scariest in my entire life. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven that watched over and protected her until I could find her.