I am finally posting a new blog.
I get in weird moods where I don't really want interaction with anyone, and I am in that phase. I think it may have something to do with the short days, but that's as far as I'm willing to go with that right now. It happens every winter, and my closest friends know it and expect it. Well, sometimes I have to remind them. Being in this mood doesn't really mesh well with starting a class in two days. New pregnant energy coming into my house every week does something to lighten my mood and make me happier, though. I'm really excited about this class!
Today I have been keeping an eye on the news. I don't usually watch 24-hour news stations because they tend to beat a topic to death; if there is some kind of news story that is constantly updated, i will tune in (start of the Iraq war part deux, Katrina, the tsunami, WTC attacks, etc...); otherwise, I DVR the 11pm local news, which is just too lame to watch live.
I awoke this morning and learned that two boys were found in MO; one had been abducted in October 2002 and one was abducted this past Monday, January 8th. I can't even imagine how the family of the 15 year old, who has been missing since October 2002, when he was 11, is feeling right now. "Elated" probably comes nowhere close to describing how they feel.
I think the abduction of one's child must be the most painful event endured in life. It would absolutely kill me. It upsets me even to think about it; It makes me want to lock my kids in the house and never let them out of my sight. You know, and I'm sure you do, how it feels when you're out shopping with your kid(s) when s/he dedides to play hide and go seek in the circular racks. NOT FUN!! Especially when they have not informed you that they are even playing that game. You get that instant drop feeling in your gut. Throat tightens. Panic ensues. Then you find the kid and yell off your adrenaline rush.
Child abduction has terrified me (not to the point of being irrational) ever since Adam Walsh. I was 10 when he was abducted from outside a mall of all places. That was the end of innocence. From that point on, we all knew that there are evil people who prey on children and get off on hurting them tremendously. It astounds me because it's not like there weren't abductions before Adam's. It's not as though no one was ever abused and murdered before 1981. Abduction must have been one of those topics that were "hush, hush" back in the day. John and Reve Walsh really put their son's face and story out there; they used the media as well as they could, and obviously this has made abduction an okay topic for media to cover and for all of us to discuss. So many scary and sad stories since 1981. So few reunions.
I remember my friend Angie's mom, Debbie, instructing me and Angie on what to do if we are grabbed. Angie's mom knew a woman who was murdered by Ted Bundy, I think. Or maybe he tried to abduct her friend. The details are fuzzy. Now kids are taught to yell and scream, kick and fight if an adult-stranger approached them; back when I was a kid, that just wasn't something that was addressed because it wasn't deemed necessary.
Angie and I did suspect that the Green River Killer lived in our neighborhood. He didn't, but he freaked us out. We called him John Belushi Guy. We thought he resembled John Belushi, obviously. The scariest Halloween ever was when we got up the nerve to trick-or-treat at his house. Seriously eerie. I wonder who he really was. He was super creepy.
Anyway, back to the story in Missouri.
The older kid was abducted in October 2002. October 2002. He was eleven. Now he is 15-- probably beyond his abductor's choice age group, which is where the new 13-year-old comes in the picture.
It is so great that the older boy is alive, but I can only imagine how awful his life must have been since his abduction. It makes me so sad. Talk about the end of innocence.
And of course, I wonder why, oh, why, didn't he contact his family, who lived only about an hour away. I understand Stockholm Syndrome. I understand the fear that their family will be killed or hurt. I need to make sure I get it into my kids' heads that no matter what, if they find themselves in that situation, they must call me. or 911. Without fear of retribution by the predator.
You know, the kid who was abducted on Monday, he was taken from near his bus-stop after being dropped off in the afternoon. So frightening. There are so many unattended children at bus-stops every day.
Well, these boys' stories end well. Who knows what hell they endured during the time they were with their abductor, but they are home, safe, now.
Oh, and I came across this True Crime Blog today. It's actually really good.
Keep your kids close, my friends. There are some seriously fucked-up people out there.
3 comments:
Me and B talked about this last night after his Mom and Dad had told us about this story and lectured us on letting the kids ride their bikes outside without being supervised. This is such a hard issue. Of course you want to be careful, but we also think you can seriously damage a child by overprotection. Our parents did, that's for sure.
Have you seen/read The Deep End Of The Ocean? That movie/book KILLED me! The mom was always looking for her child, everywhere. That is totally how it would be. You would never stop looking, no matter what you were doing, no matter where you were. Always scanning faces. So sad.
I read The Deep End of the Ocean-- never saw the movie, however.
you know, to have your kid gone for over four years (in the MO case)and only an hour away trips me out beyond belief.
I couldn't even imagine how you could be the same person after that. To even be strong for your other children, because you know they would be hurting too. And you would never want them to leave the house again.
I remember the John Belushi guy. Remember when he was walking his dog and came up to us and asked us if we had seen his watch and he was wearing a watch..... CREEPY!!!
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