I Lost My Daughter

I lost my sweet Noel today.  It was the scariest ten or fifteen minutes of my life!

Today was stake conference which means (now that I am the only parent going to church and it was how I grew up) FREE SUNDAY (no church).  I ordered a pay per view for the kids to watch and got comfy on the couch so that I could get a much needed nap.  Just before I fell asleep Noel asked if she could play outside.  I told her to stay in our yard and dozed off.  About ten minutes later John came home.  I told him Noel was playing in the front yard.  He told me that he didn't see her out there at all.  That was a bit scary, but I figured if I went outside and called for her she would come running and tell me how much fun she was having with one of the kids on the street.  No such luck.  I went inside, grabbed my jacket and some shoes, and started my real search.  There were some ladies down the street talking.  I figured that if she had wondered somewhere she would have had to have past them. They hadn't seen her, but said that they often see her at the house across the street from them.  I was starting to get more worried now.  John was in his car searching the neighborhood.  I went to that house and they hadn't seen her.  Finally, she came out of the house next door and acted like nothing was wrong.  She was just playing with her friend after all. 

I talked to her about letting us know where she is before she goes there.  I let her know that she scared me.  I am now considering setting the alarm when I am asleep so that she has to stay in.  I feel like the worst mom in the world because I don't even know what Noel is doing most of the time.