Stories do not get any better than Brennan’s story, and emotional menopausal women like me are not the only ones who shed tears over Brennan. One of the big manly police officers who helped with the search was crying on national television when he told the news reporter “the fact that Brennan was found is the highlight of my life.”

Stories of missing kids have always hit me hard. This summer there seem to be many children missing. I also remember a few years ago when Elizabeth Smart was found.

My own daughter, also a blond named Elizabeth, is almost 12 years old. Sunday I dropped her off at YMCA camp not that far from home. She will only be gone for a week (4 ½ more days from now to be exact)

I am not ashamed to admit that I cried on the way home from dropping her off, and that every once in awhile I will hear a missing child story and think “what if?” How in the heck do mothers handle it when their kids go away to college?

My 13-year-old son Steven prefers not to attend overnight camp, and thank goodness he keeps me busy enough not to worry too much over his sister.

Right now Steven's hobbling around with a foot injury. I curse under my breath as I run him all over town to see specialists. However, I realize that some day I will miss spending most of my waking hours dealing with their various adolescent issues. I'm sure Natallee Holloway's mom would love to spend the day taking her daughter to see a foot doctor.

I know Elizabeth is fine and having a great time at camp. She has always been very mature and independent, and spending time away from home is her idea of ecstasy.

We can’t protect our children forever. We just pray that they stay away from strangers, stay away from car trunks, and use safety rules when swimming.

However, despite what self-help experts tell us, humans are not always in control over our own destinies.

A “Crankshaft” comic this week fit the situation perfectly. Grandpa told his daughter not to worry about her kids, as “all the things I worried about you kids over the years never happened.”

His daughter looked comforted until the old man got a mischievous grin on his face and said “it’s the things you never saw coming that get you.”

Give the children in your life extra hugs today while you can!

 

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