A Parent's Worst Fear

I know that one of my worst fears is to lose my precious husband or children. I think I verge on the edge of uhealthy with how much I smother each of them to make sure that they are always safe. Weston must hate the fact that I run alongside him at every playground, making sure he doesn't trip, fall, or slip off of the equipment. He can't even run in a field without me at least ten feet behind him making sure he is not going to pick up anything that could hurt him (there is usually broken glass bottles lying around in our parks). :(

Yesterday afternoon when Roland got home from work, we decided to take the kids to the park. There is a park that we don't normally go to because we have to drive to it, but I like it because it has guard rails across the entire play equipment so I don't have to worry so much about Weston falling. Plus, it has a lot more slides and other things he loves to play on.

We had been there for a little while and Weston was running, running, running (as he usually does). Roland was playing with Natalie on the merry-go-round which I thought was adorable and of course had to start snapping pictures.

All I remember at this point was that I suddenly stopped taking pictures, looked to my left, and saw Weston sprinting full speed towards the main road. It was the middle of rush hour traffic so it was quite busy. This road is posted 45mph but people usually fly down it as there usually aren't cops and there are very few stoplights. My heart stopped. The street was about 100 yards away and Weston was at least half way there already and was not slowing down.

I sprinted after him with all of the strength I could muster. I was screaming frantically after him and was trying to sound as forceful as I possibly could. No response. I just saw his happy little body continue to propel towards the traffic. He completely ignored me. Every possible scenario flashed through my mind as I so desperately ran after him. I couldn't believe this was happening. I felt so helpless.

I could hear Roland's feet pounding after mine as I continued to pursue our little boy. In my flight, I lost my flip flops and continued barefoot on the asphalt. As Weston got closer and closer to the road, I prepared myself for whatever may happen. As I approached the road too, I couldn't chance slowing down for a stop so in one last burst of speed, I ran straight into the bike lane of the road. I cut off Weston's path just as his foot hit the blacktop.

I couldn't believe it. I had somehow managed to stop him. I was so overwhelmed. I was trying so hard to be incredibly stern with Weston and let him know just how bad what he did was. By this time, Roland caught up with us and we just held him as we were fighting back tears. We tried to tell him how much he had scared us and how dangerous the road and cars were. I don't think any of this was successful.

We walked back to the playground with Weston in our arms to a screaming Natalie who was lying down in the woodchips. Poor thing was placed on the woodchips when Roland darted after us. She was certainly not happy with us!

Even thinking back on this experience now, it chills me to think how close Weston got to dying or at least being severely injured. It scares me to think that if I had noticed even a second later, this could have had a very different outcome. I couldn't even imagine if I had not even noticed until I heard tires squeal. I just thank my Heavenly Father for His protection and inspiration. What a blessing! I am so very thankful.

We certainly will not be returning to that park!