I ordered a GPS watch today

We just had the most awful experience of our lives. We were having a family get together in a new place, out in the country with lakes and rivers around.

Suddenly we notice our 6 year old autistic son is missing. He's probably just exploring nearby, he never leaves our side too far and he always comes if we call for him. We can't find him and we start calling for him, seconds become minutes, silence...10 or 20 minutes later everyone is looking for him, we're screaming his name at the top of our lungs. Every minute is worse than the last. I call 911 and they ask me to describe his clothes, they outline rivers in the area and instruct me to look around those, I'm running and screaming his name. I still have the dispatch on the phone when I'm told he's been found.

He had been hiding behind a car in the same area we were dining at the entire time. I don't know why he didn't come out, he always comes when we call for him.

I'm still in shock, I've never had such a sinking awful feeling inside me. Thankfully this was a false alarm but I cannot imagine the agony if my worst fear in that moment had been confirmed.

We've thought about getting a GPS watch but we've put it off, it hasn't been an issue and we didn't see the point since he never leaves our side.

But today I went straight home and ordered two, one for him and one for his little brother. There was nothing I wanted more in that moment than a watch, I would have given everything I owned in that moment for him to be wearing one.

I just wanted to share, it may seem trivial but it was deeply traumatizing to experience and my heart goes out to parents where it didn't end the same way.