It Could Have Been Me!

In light of the recent tragedy of the death of a little one that was left in a car, I thought I would share a recent story that happened to me.  Although I have never "forgotten" a child in the car, I did have something happen a couple of weeks ago that scared me to death.

We had been out shopping and I had come in the house with all of the children to put away groceries.  After about 10-15 minutes the groceries were put away and I threw a load of laundry in and began thinking about lunch.  I had a brief thought about where Victoria might be playing.  You know the thought "she's been quiet for a while".  I assumed she must be upstairs playing".  A few minutes later there was a brief recollection of hearing the front door open and close several minutes earlier.  I began to count heads and ask if Victoria was upstairs.  She was not.  I panicked!  I ran outside and sure enough there she was in the van, with the door closed, playing with a toy we had left in there when we got home.  I opened the door and she was dripping with sweat.  She was still smiling but obviously very hot.  It scared me to death.  What if I had not had that recollection of the door?  What if I had just assumed she was playing upstairs while I made lunch?  What if?  Oh my goodness.  The thought sickens me.  I could have been "that" woman who leaves her child in a car only to find her unresponsive.

My lesson to add to the others that people have mentioned.  If you have young children lock your doors after you get out of the car so that they can not get back in it to play.

Also, please let us be careful not to judge this poor woman who is suffering enough with her own self-imposed guilt.  She has woken up this morning of the reality of the horror of what has happened.  She will have to live with that horror every day for the rest of her life.  We have no idea what kind of mom she is but I know it could have been me on the news.  You don't have to be a bad mom for something tragic to happen to your child.