Whew. You do not know what panic is until you have searched the entire house for your mother and cannot find her anywhere. My dad got home about 9:15 tonight and asked where mom was. I glanced up from the computer screen and told him that she was probably downstairs in the living room. Dad gave me a strange look.
When we finally realized that if she left for her walk at 6pm she most certainly would have been back by now- we proceeded to rummage all over our house, in the garage, on the deck, in the flowerbeds (perhaps she was weeding) and still could not find her anywhere. Dad decided to head down the road near our very strange neighbors house. They are scary, collect weird lawn equipment, and never cut their grass so I think that is why he headed that way first. I began running through the grass towards my grandmothers. I was barefoot, panicky, and panting. Dad and I met back near our mailbox with a mom-missing-while-we-search-neighborhood-report and both of us had sick looks on our faces.
That is when I heard her high-pitched giggle coming across the valley. Dad and I both slowly began walking towards where Jon lives. Yup, she was standing on the front porch chatting with his mom. Goodness, it was pitch black and way too late to be out rummaging through the neighborhood. Her walks normally only last for an hour, but she was gone forever and we just got worried as pie.