Everyone is ok, relatively speaking
Many people have written to ask how Dad is doing after his adventure to Yakima last Friday. I’m writing up a longer post with the details of what happened and how he was found, but in the meantime I’m thrilled to report he’s doing fine.
After I talked to mom yesterday morning, she put dad on the phone. Usually he’s hard to talk to if you’re not sitting right in front of him. Sometimes he doesn’t know who you are and other times he just can’t find words or forgets what he was going to say.
But yesterday was different. He had new energy in his voice and sounded very happy. He was talkative, so I decided to just ask him the burning question: “So, were you headed to Yakima, or did you just end up there?”
“Yes. Yakima.” I don’t really know if he understood the question, but he clearly knew where he went.
Then, after a long pause he said, “The best thing about it…was the drive.”
“I’ll bet!” I said. “Going over the pass must have been beautiful.”
I could hear him smiling. “Yes. Beautiful. There was snow…and frozen rocks, and…” he trailed off, and maybe in frustration that he couldn’t remember a word, he grumbled. When he spoke again, he assumed a more serious tone.
“But I think, maybe it was…” he paused again and cleared his throat before finishing his thought: “…a little dangerous.”
I wonder if he was scared. I wonder if he had any close calls and was worried that he might not make it. Or did he just drive, enjoying the scenery, his mind focusing so diligently just to get him to Yakima?
Dangerous is an understatement. We’re very lucky that he didn’t get in an accident and take someone else out. We’re happy to have him home safe. And hindsight being 20/20, a tiny part of me is really happy for him. He got to drive somewhere and his destination was one that held a lot of happy memories.
“Dad, next time you want to go to Eastern Washington, wake mom up first. Then call me. We’ll go together. But next time I’ll drive.”
My whole family wants to thank all of the friends, family, and complete strangers who went out of their way to help find dad. It’s amazing how quick people were to offer help and support. We’re so very, very lucky to know all of you.
A few people deserve special praise:
- The Bellevue Police, who issued a missing person alert and got it out in the news very quickly. Because we knew he might go to Eastern Washington, they alerted the Yakima Police, who were actively looking for him over there. Even after he was found, they continued to stay in contact with us, knowing that we were stuck in a nasty 17-mile, 4-hour backup on I-90.
- The woman who found dad lost and wandering in Target and called police. We may never know who she was, but she’s responsible for dad getting home that much faster.
- The wonderful staff and patients at the Yakima detox detention facility who cared for Dad until we could get to him, even though they didn’t have the resources to do so. I don’t even know what to say. They went above and beyond.
I just hope that we never have to go through this again.
