Amber Alert

"In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."
- Psalm 18:6

In recent years I have had the opportunity and curiosity to drive by some of the houses I lived in as a kid. My family moved a handful of times before my high school years, so there are a few to visit. It is weird now to look at the yards where I played. The garages I nearly burned down. The curbs I jumped on my bike. And to drive by the schools I attended. The outstanding attribute to me is the size of these places. As I kid I remember these places being so much larger. I guess its just the perspective thing because I was so much smaller.

All of that to say that the world through the eyes of the child is pretty huge, even daunting.

A while ago my family was shopping at Kmart. And this is not just a Kmart, but like one of those "super" Kmarts. My daughter is 6. I am betting with the aforementioned child-perspective this store must seem like an entire city. Huge. Even daunting.

Nonetheless, every child goes through seasons of testing their boundaries, pushing the limits just a little to see what they can get by with (side trail - and if this isn't true of all children please do not reply and tell me so... suffice to say that every PERRY child goes through seasons of testing. I need to believe I'm a good parent - end side trail). After we had been at the store for a while (we're frugal shoppers, you see) the kids were letting down their guard a little bit at a time, going a little further from home base (we, the parents) and being a little more careless. And we at home base were a little more focused, trying to make a decision on whether to buy this phone or that one (we didn't end up purchasing one... why are there so many options?).

I was pretty engrossed in reading the packages of these cordless phones, finding that obviously the greater the frequency the greater the reception. But the quick equation is this... more megahertz on your cordless, more mega hurts on your wallet.

"DADDY!" A distant, but shrill voice. A disturbance in the force. It instantly broke my trance. I instinctively held my breath, my heart stopping for a second. I knew that voice, though I'd never heard it define panic so accurately.

Let me compound the situation a bit for you, if it isn't already dramatic enough. This is in the era where FOX News blasts us all day long with reports about lost, stolen and missing children. This is the age of the Amber Alert. And though I live in Cornfield,... er Canton, IL, as a parent the size of the town does not provide relief. There are crazy people that like corn and HeeHaw, you know. (side trail - And, yes, we have a super Kmart in a cornfield. I have NO idea why. I don't make these decisions - end side trail)

I dashed to the main aisle... ---> page 2

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