Dear Lord, Please don't let me be on the news..........

Tyler gave me the scariest Valentine's Day present today.  He is growing up so much!  He loves his music, picks on his brothers, and, recently, showed an interest in riding a bike.  He is becoming a teenager with all the mood swings that entails.  Mostly, he is just my sweet, loving young man.  Today, he scared the total ^&%* out of me!  (Excuse my punctuation!)  Tyler is a child of habit.  He always has been.  I am sure it has something to do with the Autism and Down Syndrome.  Other parents of a child with these diagnosis would most likely agree.  When we get home from school in the afternoon, he follows the same routine:  Go inside, goes to his room, turns on his radio, and escapes from his brothers.  After a day of being in a classroom, he needs about thirty minutes of time to himself to veg-out.  EVERYDAY!!!  Today, we got home and I handed the keys to Logan so I could take our neighbor's grandchildren next door.  They visited school with me today.  The handing off of the kids took no time at all and I headed back to the house to surprise the kiddos with a special Valentine's day snack. (Okay, okay, it was just fresh fruit but I was trying to balance all the candy they had been given at school!)
Setting it on the table, I told Logan to go and get Tyler only to hear, "Mom, Tyler's not in his room!" Flying upstairs, I frantically began to search for him.  I looked in closets, bathrooms, playrooms, ect.......  Then, I flew next door and yelled at Janet to come and help me look.  We went up and down the street, into yards, they whole time calling for him.  It was terrifying.  By this time, maybe five minutes had passed since we first discovered him missing.  Logan ran in one direction up the street, the neighbors in another, and I jumped in the van determined to cover the most ground as quickly as possible.  I barely had time to pull the van out of the driveway when I saw Logan running towards a kid on a bike.
Remember when I said Tyler has recently become interested in bikes? Yep.  He took Logan's bike for a "ride" and was the next street over!  I don't recall lifting the bike and putting it in the van or getting Tyler and Logan inside.  I must have been in shock!  When we got home, I sat Tyler down and discussed with him.  I say discussed because Tyler has a new speech device allowing him to have an easier time with communication.  It is wonderful! I explained to him he was not allowed to go outside without asking.  He told me he was frustrated. 
I am sure it is frustrating to my almost teenager to be so closely watched, even if it is necessary!  All I could think of during the whole search was those parents who end up on the news explaining how they lost there special needs child and begging people to help locate them.  How do you lose your child?  Well, now I know.  Never again will I silently judge those parents.