It started really well as we stepped off our catamaran and walked about 30 minutes to Hotel Zagreb. At first, I was disappointed that we were so far from the Old Town, but a bus that ran every 10 minutes that was just steps from our hotel and Dwayne and I have getting used navigating public transportation in foreign countries. Also, we quickly figured out that our historic hotel, surrounded by a garden and patio furniture, was right on the pedestrian-only street that was the popular promenade that led right down to Sunset Beach.
Right away, Dwayne and I left hot, tired children in the hotel and "pedestrian-ed" ourselves out. When we got down to the sea, we discovered one of the hotels had cleverly installed an inflatable obstacle course swimming distance from the shore, and was charging about $15 per hour. It was the perfect place to revive our kids and after doing a little more exploring and getting lunch ingredients, we returned to the hotel, fed the kids, and led them to what I solemnly told them would be an afternoon of torture.
Turns out, it was. But not in the ironic sense I had anticipated.
We have it on good authority that this is The Best Thing EVER!!! And when their hour was up, they happily came up the beach to swim and play among the rocks. I was reading another book, and Dwayne grabbed Wesley's new green floatie to bring him and go swimming himself. Next time I looked up, Dwayne still had the floatie and was hanging out with the girls. I went over and did a quick search to make sure Wes was nearby, but I didn't see him and the others weren't sure where he was. It had a been a little while, but this was No Big Deal. The kids all love the shore and I would just have to look a little further over all the rocky obstacles.
Still no Wes. I organized the fam to make a larger radius. No Wes. I sent Dwayne and the girls up the beach to really scour the area and I walked the half mile the other way, getting more and more frantic. Dwayne's phone was dead, so I had hope that when we met up, they would have Wes with him.
They didn't.
Wesley is a fish, but he's not an invincible swimmer and it seemed that he was equally likely to be in the water as land--and I would see him on land. We split up again and I started using Mom Voice to call for him. By the time I had walked the entire beach to the road from our starting point--again--I could not find him anywhere. I was not convinced that we would find him, alive at least. I wasn't scared of kidnapping but drowning is the second (unintentional) cause of death in our state. I helped fundraise for free swim lessons for all 4th graders last spring. It happened to the 8th grade football player in our district last May. Drowning was a real possibility that even my life of good fortune could not prevent.
I do not live my life by fear, but for that hour, I was terrified.
We were sure that we had lost Wes today, not sure if we'd recovery his body. I had mobilized people on beach, defended my shouts for him ( I was told to be quiet on the beach), called the police. Dwayne and girls had looked for long stretches one way, and I had covered the other way twice. Not long after getting off the phone with the police, he walked up. He had gone so far up the beach--past all the swimming areas--that even Dwayne was certain he wouldn't clamber over those rocks. He had.
But he's now back in sight, and I haven't really let go of him.
I laid it on him...if we had found his body, figuring out how to ship it home. How it would ruin our lives forever. His sisters wouldn't have a brother. How we'd have to fudge his date of death so it wouldn't be on his cousin's birthday.
Dwayne and I realized that Kyla was probably 9 when she wandered off a mile down the Oregon coast. Our best hope is that he will be 10 when we travel next year.
Sigh.
Your very aged daughter
It was a few hours later before I took this photo, of Sunset Beach truly in all its glory, with all three kids.
My physical relief lasted for days.
No comments:
Post a Comment