Scariest 20 minutes

Yesterday Brian, Emily & Cooper (our dog) went for a walk.   Emily needed a little encouragement to go cause she wasn't really feeling like it.  But since she hadn't done a lot that day except indoor stuff... Brian & I encouraged her to go on & go.  I told her that if she wanted to come home before them she could.  Being ever so mindful that Emily needs to have those "independent" moments... though not thinking about it getting dark.  Anyway.... my hip was bothering me so I decided to stay home.   Brian calls me just as it was starting to get dark out & says Emily should be getting home any second as she decided to head back.  I said, OK?  But its dark out?  I asked which way they had gone in the neighborhood & he said to the right of our house.  Emily is way more familiar with the left of our house part of our neighborhood.  Anyway that's when I started to get a little worried.  Especially when I look down our street & don't see her.  Also Brian said he had snuck around a side street & ran to try and catch up to where she should have been.... uh oh.  Where's Emily?  panic starts setting in... I couldn't stay home & do nothing so I decided to start walking in the direction of where she should be.  I didn't see her, & then I ran into Brian & said, You didn't find her? NO....  P A N I C is really starting now!! I know it might not seem "rational" to be so worried so soon,  but you know your children & it wasn't like Emily to not be where she was suppose to be.  We knew that either she had gotten herself lost or something else happened.  We didn't really want to think about what else could have happened.   We probably knew it was the first thing, rather than the other but you never know & every second we didn't know where she was, was torture.   Anyway... Brian says I'm heading home to get the car.  I follow right behind to go home incase she called.    All the while... praying praying & praying!  "Please God... let her be ok" Over & Over!  I knew that if Brian was worrying too.  I was not being the "paranoid one" this time.  It was even scaring Brian.  Anyway.... about maybe 10 minutes later (which felt like an hr) Brian calls to say he has her.  But then he hangs up on me.  So not what to do.  I was immediately relieved a little but still a bit scared cause he had hung up on me.  About two minutes later he calls me back & says he has her.  She got her self lost & just stayed put.  Which was probably the right thing to do we both tell her.  It ended up fine & it was definitely a "learning" experience for all.  We won't let Emily walk home alone again (especially at night) UNLESS she has her phone & definitely knows exactly where she's going.  Brian had gone over with her before she left him how to get back BUT when it got dark I think she got a little mixed up.  Emily was definitely scared.  She was very thankful to see Brian.  She said she was worried about us being worried about her.  Such a sweetie.  But I could tell she was really scared- plus she said it was the most scared she had ever been.  I knew it from the look in her face she meant it.  We ended up having a conversation & sharing our stories of when each of us had gotten lost too. or our siblings did.  That it was actually a very common childhood thing to experience even if it's a scary one.  As I always say... You learn most when you make a mistake & boy did we all learn some lessons.   Next time we will all be prepared & I said next time you'll take Cooper with you too.  I asked her would it have been a little less scary if Cooper was with you & she said yes.  Ok.. no dark, only with her phone, instructions, & Cooper until she's more comfortable with it.  I think a map might be a good thing as well.  To get her more familiar with the "side streets" in our neighborhood.  We also explained what to do if more time had passed.  To keep walking til she found a major street & find a business & ask to use their phone.  Any which way she walked that would have eventually happened. etc.  Over all it was probably a good thing in the end.  I good lesson but boy were those minutes of "unknowing" scary!!!!! I hugged Emily extra extra long last night & even when she gave me a hug before bed, her hug to me seemed to be extra long too. I LOVE YOU Emily...but don't do that again, my heart can't take it!