"Have you seen my daughter?"

It's been so long since I've "blogged"...I haven't felt like there was much for me to say outloud. But today - today I don't think I can keep quiet. It's almost midnight and I just finished watching the Primetime special by Diane Sawyer with Jaycee Lee Dugard and her mom. It was maybe the single most disturbing piece I've ever watched in my life. The journalism was fantastic - in fact in a day and age where I generally dislike journalism as a rule of thumb - I thought it was one of the most tasteful, gentle pieces I've seen...but the subject was so horrific...so terrifying...so humbling... I truly thought I might lose my dinner at any time during the show. It was, as they say, like a train wreck - you can't look away. And all the while I was thinking "what if this happened to one of my children"? How do you go on as a parent after all the waiting and wondering, the angst and grief? How does a child recover from the trauma and all the innocence lost, and the terror and grief? How do you keep it from happening? How, how, how...why, why, why...

In watching the sickness of individuals who were the perpetrators, the apathy of those that were "in charge", it made me so sad for this world that we live in. And then you see the unbelievable beauty of the hope - the light that refuses to go out. The adaptive nature of a survivor. And you can't help but smile with them and rejoice in their triumph.

I'm overwhelmed with the feelings of wanting to protect - wanting to help anyone who is faced with a missing child - with outrage at the injustice in our system - on the heels of a beautiful little girl who wasn't reported missing for 31 days... it's something I can't fathom. And I'm reminded by a mom who has her daughter back after 18 years...there are things worth fighting to change in the world out there... but there are things you can change in the world within your arms...

Take time - for the kiss that will make you late. For the hair braid that begs to be made only to be pulled out in three hours later at school. To watch the baseball pitch you've seen thrown 100 times or the skateboard jump that still eludes its rider. To listen for the 10th time to the news that "there is a campout next weekend and they have to take makings for s'mores...and do we have all the stuff?" To notice that van that's carrying magazine solicitors during morning drop offs at school that doesn't belong and to not worry about how crazy it sounds to make a call to the police - make the call. To walk or drive your kids as long as they'll have you to wherever they want to go...and even longer than that. To be the pick up call at the end of a movie night, date night, dance night...any night...for my kids or your kids...

I went in and kissed my kids tonight after that show and whispered "I love you" in their ears until they stirred and fluttered their eyes enough for me to know that they knew I was there. And I prayed...for Jaycee and her mom and daughters...and I prayed for my son and daughter...and for all of the children who need to be found...and that those others who are safe will never be lost. Because it's all I know to do at the moment. That - and encourage you, too, to take the time...