How separation feels

In holiday crowds once at Woodfield Mall, I lost track of my 3-year-old daughter. A knife shot through me. It felt like frozen steel. I could not breathe. My heart pounded. Everywhere I looked. Everywhere. She was not there.

Time stood still.

Until … there she was to the side of and slightly behind her older brother. I grabbed her and held her as tightly as I could. I cried. I kissed her again and again.

Time elapsed? Maybe 20 seconds.

Mary Ellen Goodwill

Elgin