Our Daughter

Our story is not as devastating as some of the stories, but never the less a true and very terrifing experience that no parent should have to ever go through. For starters my daughter Britt age 14 ran away with a friend back at the first of summer break 2003, simply because she was tired of being in the middle of her dad and I (which we are divorced). She is a very tender hearted girl and did not want to hurt either of our feelings, so she figured that running was the answer.

Luckily she called after being gone for about 20 hours and I went and picked her up. She then and still today realizes that running is not the answer it only causes more problems and hurts the ones that you love. She is doing great now. And thank God that he kept her safe.

Now for my next story, My step daughter Nikki age 14 whom I have raised since 2nd grade had a disagreement with her dad before Thanksgiving, and it was a very bad disagreement so the next day she doesn't show up from school and I panicked. I went to school searching and no sign of her. A few hours later I got a call from a friend's mom and she was at her house, so again I was very lucky. But that is not the end of it...

Her dad is a truck driver so he had not been home since the disagreement and by now it is Christmas Eve and they still had not spoke to one another. So my husband was to be home Christmas morning around 6 am. Christmas Eve night Nikki decides that her way is the only way and no matter what rules we have she wants things to her advantage, so she sneaks out the bedroom window while the rest of us are asleep.

In the morning I went into her room around 10 and I discovered she was gone and again I panicked, so about 2 pm that afternoon the police found her at her friends house again. So this time she had to be put somewhere until she could see the juvenile judge which wouldn't be until Monday. So she was sent to a town about 30 miles from where we live to a Youth Shelter. This is Christmas Day now and all of the family's Christmas ruined.

Well the next evening, Friday, around 9 pm the Shelter calls us and tells us that she has ran from there about 7 pm. Here she is in a town which she knows nothing about and it is freezing cold with another girl from the Shelter whom she doesn't know and she just takes off. My husband and I went to the town and searched all night with no signs or clues. Days pass and she has not contacted anyone, by this time we fear that something is very wrong.

Then on Jan. 8th, two weeks after her disappearance a small town police officer who had been searching for info on the other girl's mother, took it upon himself to help us in our time of need, found our daughter at a residence in the other girls home town which was about 60 miles away from us and took her to safety. If it had not been for this officer and him not giving up on finding her for us, we still today might not know where she is.

She is home with us safe again and she has to do alot of "shaping" up in the next 4 weeks in the eyes of the court or she will be sent off. And believe this or not she does not realize how much pain she caused us during those 2 weeks and she probably never will, with the attitude that she has on life. This child is a good girl deep down, I know in my heart that she is, but she refuses to see that our rules is to keep her from ruining her life, not because we are just being mean.

To those other parents that know where I am coming from I hope and pray that your children are safe and even though we ourselves have alot of work to do in our home, that they return as did my two girls. And to the children that read my story, I hope and pray that you all make the right choices in life and make something of yourselves, don't go down the road that my daughters did, they where lucky, not to many children can be that lucky and nothing bad happen to them. So please if you are thinking of running, stop to think there are other choices and that are safer. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to share my story. Michelle