When you ask your husband where your son is, you expect an answer that points out to a place or it should at least involve coordinates of some sort. The alarmed answer/question “Wasn’t he with you?” just doesn’t cut it. It happened to us one afternoon in July on a busy beach 3 years ago when our little boy was just three years old. I had the fright of my life when our son got lost. It happened very quickly and it was only for about 5 or 10 minutes but it felt like a lifetime to me. We were just coming out of the sea with dad leading the way and Luca following him…only dad didn’t see he was behind and I stayed in the water only a few more minutes safe with the knowledge Luca was with his dad. Feeling free the little one wandered off unsupervised. As I came out convinced Luca was with his dad and not seeing him I asked where he was. The look on my husband face and his answer suddenly hit me with panic; I looked in the water that although very shallow was full of people having fun and in moments like this it’s impossible not to fear the worst. While I was looking around and shouting his name like a crazy person I was hit with a sensation I had never felt before. Suddenly everything around me was grey, people looked blurry like shadows moving in slow motion and the lively noise of a typical July afternoon seemed very far away as if I was in a bubble and I could hardly hear outside. My husband was looking on the beach around us, he kept a more focused head and thankfully he saw some blond curls popping out from behind the umbrellas close to the bar. He ran there hoping those blond curls belonged to our little boy and they did. I ran towards my son and I hugged him crying with relief that it turned out to be a happy ending story. He was concerned to see me so sad, they were happy tears but he was too young to know that, so he said “mummy I just wanted to buy ice cream!”