code blue & Sweet Nightingale

"Code blue, code blue, can I get everyone to the turbine hall. We are looking for a 4 year old boy with bright red hair." I was doing everything I could not to cry. "I'll go help look," I told her. "No stay here with me, it will be better if you can be there when they find him."

He was running right in front of me, not even that far ahead. It it is spring break here. We go to OMSI (oregon museum of science and industry) all the time, I have never seen SO many people here. It was like he disappeared out of nowhere. My friend Pam who was visiting from Boise said "here I'll take Lucy you go look for him." I looked everywhere! I ran to all his favorite places to play, I knew I needed help. I headed to the front desk. "I lost my son," I said trying to act calm. She took me to a manager who got on the walkie talkie and called the code blue.

I felt so helpless. It was the most terrible feeling. "I have a red haired boy here," I heard a ladies voice say through the radio. "I think they found him," the woman with the walkie talkie told me. I waited, hoping it would be him who she walked through the door with. The tears came and I couldn't stop them, when I saw my little Trey boy walk through the door. I ran scooped him up and held him tight. He looked very confused. I don't know if he even knew he was lost.

It was definitely his red hair that made the search go so quickly. If I would have said I had lost my 4 year old brown haired boy it would have taken a lot longer, and I bet they would have had to bring in a number of kids that weren't even mine, till we found him.

I hugged him tightly all day. As we drove home I reached back and he held my hand most of the way home. My husband has been out of town the last few days, so the kids and I slept on our big blow up mattress together that night. Trey and Lucy were snuggled up right next to me.


I usually tell them a few stories about little made up adventures with them as the characters, and then end with a song. This does the trick, and Trey especially falls right to sleep. I was singing that song from Cinderella "oh sing sweet nightingale, sing sweet nightingale, sing sweet....nightingale," when I noticed Lucy started singing it too. She wrapped her little arm around my neck and sang it in her sweet little voice till she fell asleep. It was priceless.