Today is Thursday, July 10, 2008. You are 3 years and 9 months old. Tuesday held quite possibly the worst fear of my life. While camping at my uncle Gary's in Columbia Falls during a Reese family reunion, you became lost. It was about 12:30 pm & you were in the kitchen. I gave you a banana & you peeled & ate it & came back for another. That was the last I saw of you for several hours. My mom asked me to help put lunch out so Michelle & I spent a few minutes microwaving left overs & bringing lunch downstairs. Then I fixed you a plate & went looking for you. Within 5-8 minutes of searching, I couldn't find you so I asked the others for help.
This property, it's huge! Other than the area that holds the house & yard, the landscape is dense & woody with about a 5-7 foot creek running through the property. There were about 12 of us looking for you & within another 20 minutes or so, I asked Gary to call Search & Rescue. The Sheriff's office was the first to show up & I spoke to a kind man named Ernie. He explained that before search & rescue is called in, he needed to search the property, telling me that 80% of the time kids are found somewhere in the house or yard. When it became clear you were not to be easily found & when I explained your autism (which he was familiar with through a colleague who has a son with autism), he did call in search & rescue. In addition, a child alert called every home within a 3 mile radius to alert neighbors. Finally, after what seemed forever (probably only about 30 minutes) people started showing up. Cousin Jeremy & Katie left work to come to help look, Jeremy called friends who came to look, Gary's kids Kegan & Kelsie were searching Laurel's property (where the horses were that you had been so curious about), neighbors were searching.
Shortly after we called search & rescue I figured I better call your Dad. He was working in Kalispell & was there within about 20 minutes. KJ & Eric had just arrived in town on Sunday so this was the first I had seen of them. When Dad asked me what happened, I immediately started sobbing, again, as I relayed the story. I'm sure I made quite the impression on KJ, Eric & Mollie who had come in a separate vehicle (anticipating the worst, your Dad wanted them to be able to take Jessie away if necessary). Your Dad then went with Gary in his car to start searching.
I was told to stay close so that I was available to search & rescue & the sheriff's office for questions or whatever. It was difficult to stand around, basically, while everyone else was searching for you.
At about 2:30, a neighbor had called the sheriff's office to report that they had seen you walking on Witty lane, heading north, at about 1:30. We had not been looking in this direction at all as you would have likely had to have headed up the dirt driveway, the only driveable way from Gary's property. Shortly after you went missing, Gary & Grandpa Doc had come driving in from that direction so everyone (me included) figured they would have seen you if you were in that direction.
Everyone was panicked. I was crying one minute & relatively calm the next. I was begging God to bring you home to me; I told him I could not bear to lose you. Jessie was initially panicked & scared, crying & worried. But, she is 7 & soon became distracted playing with Emily.
Finally, at around 4:00 pm, a young neighbor woman found you. She had gotten word of a lost child from the child alert & her & her boyfriend were searching. She heard you hollar one time. She then stopped & got out of the car. You made a few more noises & she found you with your foot caught in a brush pile in a gully. Although you apparently resisted her initially, after she helped you get your foot un-stuck, & picked you up, you held on tight, not even letting go so she could get through a barbed wire fence. She marched to the road & started walking up Witty Lane. Mum says there were about a dozen cars & there she is walking with you burying your head in her neck & no one noticing you. She didn't realize it was you at first, thinking this woman had abandoned her car due to car trouble & turned around to offer her help. When she stopped & realized it was you, she cried "Conner" and you leaped into her arms.
I was standing about 10 feet from one of the search & rescue guys & heard him say you had been found. I bawled like a baby. Went inside & hugged Grandma Agnes who was crying as well when I told her you had been found.
I am so grateful. Grateful to the friends, neighbors, search & rescue, & sheriff's office - most of whom are all strangers to me & you - who dropped everything to help find you (God bless you all!). I am grateful to God you were found safe & unharmed after about 4 hours. I am grateful I put you in a bright yellow tank top that morning that made you easily spotted. I am grateful that all the things that could have happened (mountain lion, drowning in the creek, hit by a car....) didn't happen. I am grateful.
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