darkness

quick update on this post below:  he is home and safe, doesn't change any of what i felt and experienced....weird that now i just feel silly.  but those feelings of worry for a child are so real and heartfelt.  he did fall asleep watching the movie; right after the one AM -ish text, woke up confused and sad that he worried me.  with his head injury and new meds it just makes things hard...for him...and for me.



i didn't know that darkness could be so black.

in the middle of the night.
no matter how many houselights you turn on....it is still dark.

when your child is missing.

no one took him,
he went to a friends to watch a movie

last i heard

that was about 1 AM.  he texted me.

  "the movie is long mom,
we are just finishing up,
  i will be home soon"


at 1:37 AM i sent

"i am still up"

i reminded him at 2:10 that a movie can be shut off
and midnight is still when i expect him home.


i reminded him that i always wait up
for him to get home
a hug goodnight,
and it is [a good night] - when all are home---  safely tucked in


its morning now.  and still dark.

i didn't sleep.
i think i have walked a permanant path in my carpet,
from downstairs -- his room
to the upstairs front windows

looking for his car.

listening for the sounds of him coming home.

after about 2 AM my reply to him wasn't so patient
he hadn't replied

...since 1:18

i am still pacing
this early bright dark morning


JUST NOW
the phone rang -- never has my heart pounded so much


it was just a junk call

he is still missing

we live on a busy street. even in the middle of my darkest night people are coming and going.  that is a lot of sounds.  i listen -- but i know the distinct sound of my sons car, and none are his.


i usually hear his keys as he spins them on the way up to the door.
the sound of the screen, his footsteps, the key in the lock

and then straight to my room,
to say "mamma, i am home"

but not last night.
not this morning.



i have checked mugshots on the computer (not because he is a naughty 17.9 year old -- but because i don't know what else to do)

i spent time on social networks -- looking at his friends who are friends with me; we keep an eye on our kids -- i thought.


i checked his sites

-- nothing ....that would make me worry

yet i worry more


at 3 AM and 3:20 and 3:49 and 4:19 i call his number

once i left a message
my voice was shaking

i wish i hadn't left a message like that

-- i don't

 want him

to worry

about me....worrying

my last text pleaded "whatever's going on i am just worried. please...let me know you are okay"


silence....and the darkest darkness


at 5ish AM i crawl back into bed
all my senses alert,
still listening for comforting sounds


i asked mr. B if i should call hospitals
he says no...we just wait

wait


waiting



still



i lay untouched in the darkness
and feel the tears roll down my cheeks

it is an unreal feeling
so strange
different

i have

never really

paid attention

to that feeling

i feel my heart beating
not too loud
not enough to block the sounds from the street

but enough that i notice the blood rushing in one valve
and out another

my heart is broke
heavy
hurting

but it still does it's work


and so does mr. B

he finally rolls to hold me
but not before asking if he can

he never wants to startle me

 in the darkness

and tonight was darker than most

tears kept running from my eyes

silence

and tears

and my heart

i pray

i really really pray



and this time --- i feel like i am not praying for me
but only to understand God's will

i say i know we have agency
and He can not charge my son
His son
to do what we both want

only can He comfort and give peace,
and understanding

i say i know that He knows where G is
and i don't think it is fair that i don't

...i wait for Him to answer me....

but silence...the quietest silence

in the darkest darkness

just please....you (God) know where he is
please don't let him feel alone
please don't let him be suffering

but i trust that you are keeping watch
and that we will get through this ---- darkness

i keep praying and it is just for my little big G
please remind him that we love him
that no matter what we just want him content and growing

and home


that if this night is really hard
and really dark
for whatever the reason

we love him... too... and we will be here....waiting


please remind him of who he is
and give him a glimpse of who he is becoming

and keep him warm


at some point i drifted into a dream
it was me and little G
seeing his anticipation of knowing all the why's and how's and what's that's of an eager toddler

it was his birth
it was remembering how he grew inside me

and a knowledge that he now is growing

outside of me

outside of my control


i vividly remembered my surgery a couple of years ago
how terribly broken i felt to have a hysterectomy

and how this little almost grown big G crawled next to me in the hospital bed

he said to me "mom, this has to be so hard for you, they took the place you first held me"


so sensitive for a young teen boy
and so wise

and yet last night as i felt my heart working overtime i knew that i really still held him within me

it was not where i carried him that held him first.
it was my heart.


i don't know what else to do this morning.
the other children are sleeping so peacefully
i am wide awake

listening still for the sound of him coming home

it's light, the sun is up

but it feels so dark



today may be the hardest day of my life....ever
i will have to live it to find out.



i am anxious
i thought today was going to be just another day.
i planned to get more plants for the garden
the kids are out of school
we might have taken a road trip -- to visit grandpa

i need to get a blood test, making sure no bad c-cells have grown back since my last surgery

i was anxious for that

now that doesn't seem so bad

i haven't stopped praying
haven't closed my pleading

my mind wanders to all the loved ones passed on...recent and ways back
i think of them knowing a little something about where G is
and wish they could tell me.

but i hope they are watching over
until he returns to home


my heart is not trembling as much
i think it is keeping quiet...calm
so i can listen
i am still pacing
watching

wondering, yes...what will come of today,

the light of the darkest night and early day is still

and i hear him not so many years ago chanting with me:

"see you later alligator

after while crocodile

not to soon baboon

give a hug lady bug

be sweet parakeet

so long king kong

out the door dinosaur

see you soon racoon

blow a kiss jellyfish

and bye, said the fly

take care polar bear

bye bye butterfly"

this is so surreal

in the light of today we have to know something

i can not imagine the darkness of another night

if you are a prayerful person

please pray

whatever comes of today...

my hope... he will return home

or ....the alternative

i appreciate your faith

while mine is faultering

in the darkness

of light today