Posted on 02/20/2005 12:25:37 AM PST by Sunshine55
Please pray for my 17 year old daughter's safety, that the Lord is watching over her and protecting her from harm. I just filed a missing persons report with the Columbus Police Department about an hour ago, when it became apparent that I was not going to get the usual call from her letting me know where she was.
I left for work at 10:45 am and the last thing she said was that she was going to get her hair cut. No e-mail, no phone calls to me throughout the course of the day, which struck me as odd, because we hadn't had any harsh words and life seemed to be great. I got off work at 9 pm and she wasn't home, which isn't unusual because she spends alot of time with Young Life. Hours passed, no phone call. By 2 I was nearly hysterical with worry. I have left messages on her friends' cell phones hoping for a call back. I am sorry to say that I was not able to give the officer a description of what she was wearing, only a picture.
This is SO out of character for this young lady. She's always been the responsible one, even though she has been suffering from Senior-itis this year and has tested the boundaries to the limit. I am so frightened thinking of the possibilities here that I don't know where to turn, and I would appreciate your prayers tonight. I am hoping that perhaps she told me she'd be sleeping over tonight at a friend's house, but I have racked my brain, and frankly, I just don't remember any conversation like that taking place. (I haven't had a day off in 3 weeks.)
I pray He sends some very big angels to your house and family, and the strong conviction, the inner witness of His guiding Holy Spirit, to help her make excellent choices. I'm sure she gained some valuable insights by this. I am so happy for all of you that she is found and on her way back home.
When my son was five, in opposition to extremely specific instructions not to go off with his (older) cousins into the thick woods of an 800+ acre park on a church outing, he went off with those very cousins. He went missing for some time and night was falling. I was quietly freaking out till his youngest cousin and he found their way back out. Seems there was a series of circular paths with paths that led out from the circles. When they tried to return, they headed in the opposite direction from the rest of the party, scaring themselves something awful.
When he climbed in the car (I was driving to different sites to try to find him), I said I was very glad to see him and we were going home. He asked, "Am I going to get in trouble?" I said, "Yes, but not now. I'm too glad to see you and too angry to deal with this now. We are going to wait till I calm down."
Not an experience I ever wanted to repeat.
We've shared lots more, too: our darlings are 15, 17, and 21, and we've been there, done that, and gotten the t-shirts for similar painful experiences. We've gotten more than a few calls from other parents in their quests, too...
May God help us, until the two youngest reach their sister's maturity, and accept our thanks that she's attained it!
Halleluhah!
LOL! Amen.
Glad everything worked out alright, Sunshine.
PRAISE THE LORD!
I would make her read this entire thread five times.
GODBLESS AND GODSPEED!
All is well that ends well, Sunshine55.
I'm happy to hear she will soon be back in your arms.
But, Sunshine55, please let this be a lesson for you and your girl: know at all times where and with whom she is going out. Keep a vigilant eye on her and her activites at all times, and know who her "friends" are. It will all eventually be worth the effort. Trust me.
***Sleeping that is until I tore into the place, picked my son up by his hair and while he was crawling out the door, I was screaming and kicking his ass to help him along.***
And you can be sure that in future years, your son will be on FR bragging about what a good Dad he has. Good for you.
I was screaming and kicking his ass to help him along.
*** Were you really kicking his ass? And why am I thinking of Full Metal Jacket right now??? LOL Seriously, I'll bet he turned just fine.
Teenagers, the darlings.
Happiness is bringing a child back home safely. Praise God!, God bless! - now you can collapse.
Just checking in again and I am so relieved to hear that your daughter is safe.
LOL! Make that a good Mom. I'd been divorced for almost 10 years at that point in time. His father and I split when he was about 3. He's 34 now and rarely drinks at all.
Sorry about the mistaken identity. Since you're a woman I'm even more impressed. You're a good Mom.
Oh yeah, I was kicking his ass alright. I'm surprised he didn't have a permanent imprint of my foot on his butt. I should explain that I'm a female, and at the time I probably had 3-4 years as a correction officer in an all-male maximum security prison and I could be tough when I had to be. Now that I'm retired, and my kids are grown, I don't have any heads to knock together anymore. Gets kinda boring at times.
That's always been my theory as well. ;-)
The toughest screws are women who work in male prisons. I have a few for customers *lol*
LOL! 'Tis true. It was easy being hard on the inmates because there wasn't any emotional connection there. It was alot tougher being hard on my kids, but if they crossed the line...that was it.
I thought it was interesting that the prisoners gave the women the most respect. At least, that's the impression I got from their stories.
Print out this thread:
Read it to her:
Roll it up:
Beat the hell out of her for causing so many people to suffer.
I spent the last 15 years of my career as a Sergeant. In fact, I was the only female supervisor in my facility for a good number of years. I always got a kick out the inmates who figured that because I was a female, I'd be more receptive to their whining. By the time I got through chewing them a new a-hole for bothering me, they were sorry they ever approached me. "Hey Sarge, can I talk to you?" "No!" would be my reply. "But Sarge..." they'd say. "Excuse me, didn't you hear what I said? I said NO!! Now get lost." The inmate would walk off mumbling under his breath, but eventually they'd get the message and wouldn't bother you. Bottom line was, the officers were the first ones the inmates were supposed to go to, not the supervisors. If they came to me first, I'd send them on their way.
Inmates are like kids, they can't accept being told "NO." If an officer would tell them they couldn't do something, they'd complain on up through the chain of command until they'd find some lily livered Lieutenant or Captain who would give them their way. It always ticked us off.
By the time I retired, the caliber of inmate in the system had changed drastically from what I had first experienced when I initially started 23 years earlier. The majority of them thought they were tough guys so it never bothered me to be a bitch to them. They were really mouthy and bold when they had an audience of their peers, but get them alone and get in their face, and they'd back right down. I even had a few break down and cry on me. They're big babies.
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