When I returned home, it seemed to me that the day would be ordinary. There were no signs of alarm.
But as soon as I crossed the threshold, I saw a policeman standing in the corridor with my two-year-old child in his arms.
My heart began to race – I did not understand what was happening.
The officer looked at me sternly but calmly:
– Your daughter was found alone in the park. We’ve been trying to find you. Everything is fine now, but we need to ask some questions.
I stood in a stupor. Thousands of thoughts were spinning in my head, but there was no clear reason for what had happened. Just fear.
It turned out that my daughter had somehow left home during my absence. Police found her in a nearby park playing in a playground, all alone. They tried to find out who was nearby, but no one answered—except for her. She laughed as if she was just walking and did not understand the terrible anxiety we were experiencing.
While the officer was interrogating me, I tried to collect my thoughts.
How could this happen?
Why did she leave?
Where was I looking?
The answers came unexpectedly.
When I finally picked her up, she just looked at me and said:
“I was looking for a rabbit.”
And that explained everything.
A week ago, she and I were reading a book about a little white rabbit who always ran away from home to find adventure. I laughed, and she repeated after him that she would also become a ” rabbit seeking adventure.”
She remembered this story, and following her childish logic, she decided to look for her ”rabbit” in the park.
The policeman smiled when I explained the situation, but still said that it was not worth letting the child out alone, even if only for a minute.
And I stood there holding her tight to me and thinking:
Sometimes it seems that a horror is just the greatest adventure in the small world of a child.
But at the same moment you realize one more thing.:
Love is not just about hugging.
Love is about being there even when the children are looking for” rabbits ” that live in their own imagination.
