Three Little Jewells

The other night, Kip and I went upstairs to go to bed and I did my last minute bed check of the children.

Nathan? Check.  Tuck the covers back around him.

Savvy? Check.  All cozed up with Giraffy.

Mary? Not in her bed.  Not under her bed.  Not in her closet.   She’s not in the school room.  Not in the hallway bathroom.  Not in Savvy’s room or our room or our bathroom.  No where to be found.   We’ve just come upstairs so we know she’s not in the kitchen, living room, laundry room, or study.

By this point, Kip and I have been searching for her for about 10-15 minutes.

And honestly?

I’m starting to panic. I’m starting to have visions of Elizabeth Smart. I’m really starting to panic.

Empty bed.   Where could she be?  Did someone kidnap her out of her room????

I say to Kip- you know, the only room we haven’t checked is the dining room.   So, I start to head downstairs to check the dining room.  Kip was in our bedroom and as I got several stairs down, he said something to me.  I turned my head to look through the stair banisters and  into the bedroom to answer him.   Because I’m several stairs down, I’m at eye level with the floor when I turn and look through the banisters.   And guess what I see?

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One of our neighbors had been setting off fireworks.  Mary is TERRIFIED of fireworks.   She had grabbed her pillow, her meme and crawled under our bed and fallen asleep.   Because the other children were asleep, when Kip and I were searching and calling for Mary, we were doing it quietly.   And because she was asleep, she didn’t hear us calling her.