A Little Story about Miss Lauren

This is a story about Lauren that I have to record.  Someday I hope I can laugh about it... here goes.  The other day we were getting ready to eat breakfast and we had had family in town for awhile so we had not been eating very well.  I told Lauren she couldn't have Lucky Charms, Lauren didn't like that answer and told me she was going to run away and that she didn't like living here.  Well, being the drama queen that she is, I told her that I would miss her if she had to go. I thought I was calling her bluff.  So she went out the front door and I heard her on the front step and then heard the door again (keep in mind this is 8:00 in the morning and she is in her pink nightgown and no shoes).  I finished rinsing my 3 dishes and went to check on her and she was gone.  I walked around the house, then the neighbors house, walked up and down the street calling her name... no Lauren.  I told Elise to get in the car and we started driving around the neighborhood calling her name out the window... no Lauren.  I am starting to panic and get mad all at the same time.  Saw a lady walking her dog and asked her if she had seen her and she had not but was going to help look.  I decided to go home and if she wasn't there I was going to have to call the police!!!!  When I pulled around the corner I saw 2 cars in my driveway and some guy was knocking on my front door, and Lauren was in the house ( I had left the garage door open in my mad dash out of there).  I immediately felt relief and then anger!!!  I talked to these 2 people and apparently she had walked out of the neighborhood, down 86th street, which is a VERY busy street.  I was horrified that she would do that and it never once crossed my mind that she would go in that direction when she left.  Needless to say, the guy asked her if she was lost and she said "no, I am just mad at my mom".  He told her she needed to go home and she turned around and started running home.  He followed her in his car so she would get home safely.  My mind still keeps playing the "what if" scenario... Thank the LORD, that she got home safe and that he was a good man.  The ironic thing is that she just spent a week at Safety Town camp and talked about all of the things she just did... that she should not have done.... I think I aged 10 years from this fiasco.  I was so upset and she saw that and I truly think she knows it was really bad and won't do it again.   We ended all of this with LOTS of hugs and kisses... oh and she was grounded too.  :)