What a Day!

Here's what happened: To get the full effect of this story, read it as fast as you can with your heart beating very quickly!
I was a little late picking up Emily after her after-school club yesterday. I was late with another mom and her son was in the office waiting. My thought was, 'The school must have put her on the bus when I didn't show up!' Instead of asking the school to call the bus driver to let him know I wouldn't be there, I went into panic mode. I ran back to my car hoping I could make it to the bus stop at the same time as the bus. We live 15-20 minutes away from the school, traveling mostly on the motorway (freeway). As I hit the long queue to get on the motorway I remembered I had forgotten my cell phone when packing for the day. So there I sat, not moving, feeling very bad, realizing there's no way I'm going to be there in time to pick up Emily. Hannah starts in with her series of questions (Why are you not going? Where's Emily? Why are you not talking? Why are you going so fast?) and Rachel is too quiet. I try to stay calm and look like I know what I'm doing, but Hannah and Ray think I have lost their sister forever. Lizzie's starting to fuss because it's time to feed her. I'm out of bottles, though, because I used them all during the day-long field trip to the farm with Ray's class. As I'm driving, I fill up one bottle with water hoping to pacify her as long as I can.
The late bus drops the kids off at the entrance of a different neighborhood, a few blocks from us. At the beginning of the school year Em and I set up a back-up plan that if I wasn't at the bus stop she was to go home with some kids we know from church, and thankfully we had reviewed that plan a few weeks ago, so I just hoped that the kids were on the bus and that Emily spoke up to one of them. It took me 35 minutes to get to the bus stop. She wasn't there. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know the address of the family I told Emily to use for our back-up plan, so I drove home to get it and see if there were any messages from anyone who knew what happened. There were 5 messages from Jon, so I called him, but he was only calling for passport info. I called the family and YES! Emily had come home with them and the 16-year old daughter was walking Emily home. I drove over to meet them and I was so relieved. I could tell Em was shaken up a bit, but I am so proud of her! When I wasn't at school to pick her up she figured she was supposed to get on the bus. When she didn't see me at the bus stop she asked the oldest girl in the family we know to walk her home. She was very brave and forgave me easily saying, "We all make mistakes, Mom." Thanks, Em!
I will now be accepting my Lame Mom of the Year Award!