We had tickets to see Bill Cosby today, a gift. It involved going out of town, about 25 miles to a new performing arts center. I used my GPS to get there. It was a good show, DH enjoyed it. There was a huge crowd. Going down the steps getting out it was very crowded. I assumed DH was behind me. I got outside, he was nowhere to be seen. I got very scared. People were streaming out. I stayed put and tried to think of what to do. People were still streaming out. I stood and watched two exits. Finally, I looked over and there he was. That is one more thing we cannot ever do again..
Glad you found him without much trouble. Sounds to me like he was waiting for you too - just in a different spot. Thankfully he didn't just follow the crowd.
Oh yes, maryd, do it again if he enjoyed it. Just hang onto him next time. When I read the caption I was afraid he had died. Happy to know you just got separated for a little while. :-)
It is absolutely amazing how fast they can get out of site in WallMart to say nothing of a theater or airport. No way could I do a crowd now at the stage we are in. I know the panic.
heavens sake, mary d scared me silly. i too read inference to death in that top line! so glad he was only lost. ha! me too i know the panic feeling. not good. keep him locked to you anywhere you go, it happens so fast. divvi
What works for us is to let the biggest crowd leave ahead of us. Especially when we're leaving an airplane. Never could understand the rush for the door unless you have a connecting flight to catch..(and arrived late). Perhaps you can do that in a theater as well. The rush and crowd panics ME,..cannot imagine how it affects them. Might be worth a try.
I decided on organized tours so I could keep track of DH & not worry about driving, etc. While we were standing side by side & I was talking to him at Ft. McHenry in MD about the hugh flag being folded in front of us he disappeared. Yes, I found him shortly & decided to be more careful. In a train station in GA, he went with a group of men to the men's room, they were watching him. But the restroom was being cleaned, all the others went to another restroom but no one noticed that he did not follow them & he was wandering around this hugh bldg all alone. Everyone had to wait on the bus while I searched the terminal & finally found him. And, yes, he has disappeared in the neighborhood and I found him, but you worry about the time you won't and you cannot watch them closely enough. Worse than children.
Just like those kid's we often refer to, they can slip out of sight in an instant. Dh got away from me at a huge RV and Boat Show in Denver last year. I called his cell phone the instant I knew he was gone and asked him where he was, He said next to a brown Class A................... Basically one of the most popular color of rv's at the show. Finally I looked up and saw flags hanging from the convention center ceiling, Honey look up, What color flag do you see? Blue! Stay there, I saw the blue flag and ran, there he stood. It's an awful feeling, Thankfully maryd yours turned up so quickly. I am like others I thought he had passed. Glad to know it was just a short separation.
I had the same initial reaction Dazed did. Now that I've calmed down ...
My husband enjoys the theater, but I can't count on him being able to stay behind me -- he courteously allows pushy ladies to go in front of him. Like Nancy, we wait until things have cleared out a bit, and when we do leave the theater, he goes in front, and I keep a hand lightly on his back, which shows others we're together. People rarely try to push between, and if they do, at least I can see him ... and I don't hesitate to speak up, to get people to let me past.
Oh I am so glad it worked out. I know that you were terrified!!! When my kids were in pre-school and we took the classes on outing we dressed them in the same bright colors. Maybe we should consider doing that with our loved ones when we go out into crowds. If we both have on the same bright color it might help them to id us faster and it would certainly make it easier to see them in a crowd!!!
reminds me of when DH and I went on one of our lasts trips by air. plane was exiting and we had connections so scurring to get to our next gate. i crammed myself into the row of exiting people with DH in tow by hand. i reached up briefly to get my overhead and grabbed his hand again and we were finally moving again. you know how we hav to 'wait' while people in front get overheads etc. i had one hand on luggage and other hand behind me holding DH. i was being funny and grabbed his crotch and heard him giggle. as we stopped again half a minute later, i turned around and had the hand of a gentlemen i did not know. DH was 2 persons behind me..i apologized profusely and said what happened. the guy said, 'my pleasure'..i nearly died right then. i practically handcuffed DH to me anywhere we went after that:) divvi
I had this problem too with my wife..one minute she is behind me and then next, she disappears..I now have Sprint family locator on her cell phone, and I make sure it is turned on and in her purse when we go anywhere.. If she gets lost, the tracking is like a gps locator, and locates her within 5 feet. I used it a few times when she disappeared, and found her within seconds...so accurate. I am also searching for a gps device (sort of like lojack for a car), that I can mount in some jewelry, and locate her the same way in case the phone gets lost or loses it battery....
I think restrooms present one of the biggest problems. If he takes longer than I think he should, do I find someone to check on him? If I have to use the restroom, will he stay where he is until I come out?
When shopping at the mall, he would rather sit on a bench out the store and wait for me. The last time, he was gone. I found him down the hall--looking for a restroom. He had no idea where it was, but he was going to find it. Now he comes into the store with me--I cannot trust him to be alone in a public place.
I am sorry if it sounded like DH died. I was so scared with the hundreds of people pouring out of the building, I was panicked.He did not even acknowledge he was lost. He wasn't scared. It was a non-event for him. I have lost him in Walmart, but they will page him to come to the service desk to meet his wife I guess I will look for some kind of tracking device. I have seen one advertised on TV where a child wanders off and the mom pushes a button and finds him. I lost him on our cruise in January, but I had other people looking and he turned up right away. I guess I will have to carry a picture with me now. There are lots of seventy year old gray haired men everywhere we go.
That has happened to me many times. I think he's right behind me and he started to follow someone else. Now I hold onto him in crowds or walking done the street. One time my son and I thought he got on the elevator with us (he thought I had him and I thought he had him) and after the doors closed we looked at each other "Where's dad?". We had to run back up the stairs to find him wandering around the parking structure.
Restrooms are a hugh problem for me. I try to no longer take him where restrooms are a problem. I have easy to go to restrooms located in our area. Stores are about the only place I take him now and I spend most of the time keeping track of him and he is crippled with his spinal stenosis. One day he was in the electric cart in WallMart. I told him to stay close to me and he did for a couple aisles and then something distracted him and he was gone. After I found him I checked out and brought him back home.
phranque, I have the same thing on my Dh's phone thru Verizon, yet to have to use it. Glad to hear it works good. As maryd suggested the child tracking system, I have seen one advertised for pets. Available at pet stores, like Pet Smart etc. I have been meaning to run in and check one out and seeing if it would work as well. I was thinking it may be smaller.
I like Lori2 worry about the restrooms, I wish they had more family restrooms instead of 'Mens" and "Ladies".
When my wife and I go anywhere outside of our apartment I hold her hand. I only let go to get my keys out to unlock the car, and then I keep an eye on her. For restrooms, it is now to the stage where I have to go in with her to be sure she lowers everything before sitting down. Thus, we can't go anyplace that doesn't have individual restrooms. Fortunately, the main restaurants we use here have such restrooms.
Marsh, I'm like you. Where we used to hold hands out of love, now it is to stay together. He holds me as tightly as I hold him. And, all his shirts are now RED. I can easily spot him if someone should get between us and we have to let go. As for restrooms, he goes just before we leave the house when we go somewhere. We no longer make multiple stops. If it is a restaurant, we go right home afterwards. Same for a movie, or Barnes and Noble. We live close enough to them that he doesn't have to go while we are there.
I have decided not to try to take him to the Robin Williams performance (when it is re-scheduled in the Fall) because I don't think he is up to it, nor could enjoy it. I think that the crowd might be too much for him.
I, like the others, was so afraid that this discussion meant that Maryd's husband had died! I'm so relieved that it wasn't the case!
ditto mary. me too i get DH to go before leaving best i can and use double depends and plastic pants over that. if he has to go and i cant find a suitable place then at least i know i am covered til we can make it home. its such a relief not to be worried all the time about how to get him into a suitable bathroom. i dont hesitate to go in the ladies restroom with him if i have to. its just the way it is-. divvi