by Nurse Jenna
Buenos Dias. This is the first of my upcoming posts coming to you from Quito, Ecuador. I arrived Sunday night to begin my 3 weeks of homestay here, where I will be attending a local school to study Spanish. It was a rough trip getting here, and before I did finally arrive safely, I had a childhood flashback of the dreadful time I was accidentally forgotten at school. I was reminded of the memory that is still burned deep in my psyche, where my mom thought my dad was picking me up and vice versa. The result was a 2nd grader in a tear-stained pink dress sitting by the front of the school with an exaggerated sense of abandonment that still haunts me. Thoughts of that day popped into my head while waiting at the airport in Ecuador, where I was without money or a phone, hoping someone would come pick me up when everything around me suggested I had been forgotten.
So how did I end up in South America without money or a phone, likening myself to a lonely child? Let me not forget to mention it was raining. After all, what is a foreigner in the dark of night, in a 3rd world country, if there is no rain. I find myself here because I was long overdue for a brush-up on my Spanish. Some issues at work about 2 weeks ago occurred due to poor communication with Spanish-speaking-only patients and these incidents refueled my desire to improve my language skills. So after a hastily purchased ticket and a flurry of packing, this was where I found myself.
I started the trip a bit nervous -- about my faltering Spanish speaking abilities, traveling alone, the lack of planning [child_alone], a lot of things, really. The nervousness began to crecscendo when I got to the airport and realized my ATM card was not working. I had virtually no cash with me and was counting on being able to get cash before I left the country. Of course, the bank customer service line was not open on a Sunday. I was uneasy, but figured I could cash a check in Miami before I left the country. How could a major international airport NOT have a currency exchange? Well, there wasn't. I was reassured there would be one in Quito when I arrived in Ecuador. Again, not the case.
As if being without money and language skills isn’t bad enough, my cell phone also did not yet work, and my ride was not there when I got to the airport in Ecuador. I circled with my bags a few times looking for someone holding a sign with my name, and even went outside (in the rain) to look around. No one was there. Tears were welling up at this point. I had been flying for over 12 hours and now I had been forgotten. I not only felt just like a little kid whose parents forgot to pick them up from school, it was as if I had also forgotten my phone number and was helpless to call anyone. It was certainly a moment of regression for me. An "emergency" call and an hour later, I was finally picked-up from the airport and dropped off at my homestay. All is well that ends well, I suppose. Though it is now three days later and I still have no money and am still struggling with international calls and banks regarding my ATM card. Life is a bit less technical here, among other things.
Have you ever forgotten to pick your kids up, or remember a time when your parents forgot to come get you?
Comments (28)
not yet but mine is only 2
Good topic! I was running around once picking up my kids and late for the drug store and forgot to get one at ballet. Its only happened once, it won't happen again, and my kid ended up playing with another girl that it didn't really matter. But yes, I felt like a bad mom for days.
I forgot to pick up my oldest son on the VERY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!
I felt like the worst mom EVAH!
At a family reunion, the whole family was piling into the multiple minivans to go on an outing, and the youngest girl (about 6 at the time, I think) was left at home. Fortunately, she knew how to use the phone to call my uncle and figure out where everyone was and why she was home all alone. It was a traumatizing experience for her at the time, but now it's the little family joke and we can all laugh about it, as we count heads and check for accountability!
My parents forgot me after a basketball game as a kid - it was MY game and I played in it - they just got in the car and went home! I had to get a ride with a friend - they didn't seem as apologetic as I had expected.
last year i picked up a friends daughter from school 2x a week. It was 445 (i was supposed to get hre at 430) and she called me. I felt SOOOO bad.
::knock on wood:: I haven't forgotten my children anywhere....but I'm sure I'm bound to do something like that sometime. When my daughter was itty bitty it was very easy to sleep through her crying b/c she cried so quietly. You could literally sit next to her and not hear her. It used to scare the begeezus out of me. I'd set my phone alarm for every 2-3 hrs to check on her until i decided to put her in bed with me.
I hope you enjoy your stay!
first day of kindergarten my mom was 1/2 hour late picking me up. we didn't have cell phones back then, so I just cried the entire time.
about a month ago at the age of 18, my mom dropped me off at the dentist and disappeared. I started to walk home, and all those memories that I hadn't thought about in 12ish years came back.
I'm over it but I was surprised that it all came back.
A family friend forgot to pick up all our kids after a church event. They were waiting like 30 minutes before their sunday school teacher called us. I had to go get them - I was a little angry, but there are worse places to strand a kid.
That sounds traumatic - being stranded in a foreign country is the worst. I did a year abroad in college and the school also forgot to send someone to pick me too! I was freaking out - thankfully, I was able to get a hold of someone at my home school and they were able to get someone there. it was VERY stressful though.
I was never not picked up...although there were a few days when my sister and I forgot that we didn't have to walk home, and we left our parents waiting at the school. My younger sister was left at school quite often because with my parents running a restaurant, it was hard for them to get out when the school bell rang. I mean, she was eventually picked up, just not right away. It has happened to the kids that I've taught. It was bad one time when the parents were going through a divorce, and they hadn't given us a pickup schedule, and mom picked up when she wasn't supposed to...and yes, the kid was forgotten one time.
I've heard of divorced friends running into this issue a lot - custody confusion basically. People not remembering who's night it is and the kid being left at school/whatever. A good guy friend of mine is always complaining about his ex's lapses in memory that result in his daughter being forgotten at least once a month.
No to both.
This reminds me the of the story I saw on CNN the other day where parents are abandoning their teens at hospitals in Nebraska. Evidently, its legal to drop your kid off at a hospital (at any age - big difference than w/ most states) and just leave em.
@NEParents - We were the last state to inact a safe haven law. It seems our legislature didn't expect this to happen. The guy who insisted on taking out the age limit (ie. 6 months) is now calling for an emergency session to define the word "child".
Its been a while, but many years ago, my eldest got left behind at school. I thought everyone was in the van; he was getting in and then ran inside to get something. The youngest one slammed the door and said we were ready, so I took off. I didn't look in the rearview for like 6 blocks and then had to turn around. It wasn't much time (< 5 mins) but still felt really stupid.
No, but I sometimes get very paranoid and have to check the backseat a couple times to make sure I remembered my daughter. I don't know why, I just do. The earliest bad dream I can remember having was about my mom taking me to the playground, explaining that I was going to live there, and leaving me.
I saw this happen the other day in the store; some kid was wandering around the front of the store w/ a manager looking for the kids mom - she had left accidently. Hasn't happened to me - seems liek a big thing to forget - but some people are scatterbrained.
I make the kids do roll call in the car before driving off - I also use it as a seat belt check!
When I was seven my mom left me at my brother's basketball game. I ended up walking around the gym crying until my brother's coach saw me and took me home with him and his family. It was several hours before we could get a hold of my mom because she was out running errands and this was long before we had cell phones.
The thing that bothers me the most to this day is that my older brother didn't say anything the entire time they were out running errands. I'm sure he realized I was missing, he just felt like making me suffer. Stupid older brothers.
I was on a school trip once and one of the kids got left behind by the chaperone. I have no idea how you miscount kids as they enter the bus, but it happened. We turned around after one of the other kids noticed, but it was a good 30 minutes.
I'm completely paranoid about it. I'm the kind of person who's lost 6 dozen coffee travel mugs by leaving them on the roof the car and driving off. I have nightmares about doing the same to my kid sometimes.
@from_trumpet_2_frenchhorn@xanga - I had a very similar thing happened to me, but it was my bro and sister who conspired to leave me behind. they thought it was funny to send me go looking for something at school and then told mom we were all set to go. Siblings can suck.
@Wildflowersp@xanga - I believe this is the story you're referring to here. It doesn't sound like the legistlator who "took out" the age provision now wants to change it - it just sounds like its the original author of the law.
I can see this kind of thing happening more and more due to the current economic crisis. EVERYTHING is going to get more expensive. We have people who can't afford mortgages, rent, cars, food - giving up their kids is next. I don't think its such a bad thing to have a law like this that even covers older kids. Its sad, but its worse than a kid living in a household where they are neglected - at least the parent had the good sense to take the kid someplace where they can be protected.
@BostonianByBirth - Ah! Two things. First, I was thinking of Ernie Chambers, a senator who has been serving since Lewis and Clark went through. He has an opinion on everything, and he supported removing the age limit. Term limits have eliminated him and I think he is anxious for one last hoorah.
Second, that article had lots more info about the living conditions and family life of the children than anything I had read around here. I need to speak to my newspaper reporter friend about that! I don't live in Omaha, but our paper should have had that sort of info.