No Control
Do you ever feel you have little to no control of a situation, and feel helpless? I experienced this a few weeks ago. With my daughter out of the country on an internship, technology has been our saving grace. We are able to communicate several times a week, if not daily. Recently there was a stretch of time I wasn’t able to connect with her.
After day two of no communication from an earlier text I had sent, I thought it was odd. When day three arrived without a response, I started to become concerned. I reached out to one of her friends; they had also not heard a word in a few days. That’s when I started to really worry; especially after her friend thought I should call the consulate……”What?”
Before my daughter left she put together a list of the information needed in case of an emergency; from her travel plans to her personal account numbers, logons, international numbers, and so on. After rummaging through the paperwork, I realized I didn’t have the contact information for the man in charge. I began to panic because I remember asking her for the information. I thought my daughter had sent me his information in an email, but I couldn’t locate it anywhere. She also had an international phone that wouldn’t go through; which was supposed to be used for instances when she couldn’t communicate through normal channels.
So I did what any good mother would…..I hacked into her email account…..HA! I found his contact information and immediately emailed him a note. I didn’t want to sound like a crazy mother and explained I hadn’t heard from her in a few days, and was just making sure she was safe. I went on to speculate it could have been an internet issue.
Within five minutes he responded, and even though he was not in South America at the time, would reach out to someone immediately. He guessed the recent storms had caused the communication outage. His response made me relax a bit, but would feel better once it was confirmed.
Before the hour was up, he had communicated with the lodge and they were checking to make sure everything was OK on the Flotel (the floating hotel along the Pantanal where Hannah was temporarily staying). A handful of emails went back and forth during this time, but what I didn’t realize he had copied my daughter and the manager on all communications. My immediate thought was “Oh geeezzzz…..Hannah is going to think I am overreacting!”
As it turned out, it was a storm that had caused the issue and she was safe and sound. On day four we were finally able to connect. She teased me a bit about the emails, but in the end was glad I reached out. It is very humbling when everything is out of your hands with little to no control. Learning to trust and have faith would better serve my mind and heart. Charles, the one in charge, understood my worry and was happy to put my mind at ease. I’ll just be glad when my baby girl is safely back home. She’ll have great adventures to speak of, and I’ll hair grey hairs….LOL.
xoxox…..Sheryl
PS…..as I was wrapping up this post, I got word that Hannah won’t be able to communicate for the remainder of her stay…..ARGH. I need to trust and have faith……Lord, give me strength!