Desperately Seeking Susan...

I have a friend named Susan. We have known her & her husband for over 7 years now. They have 4 boys: 9 years old, 12 years old, 14 years old & 17 years old. They are a homeschooling family, like us, so we have a lot in common. My husband works with her husband nearly every weekend. Our boys grew up together the last 7 years. Susan and I don't get to visit very often due to our busy schedules (she plays cello in the church Orchestra and attends regular Bible studies, I run our Private School and teach children's baking classes for the community college) but I adore her. Every year we spend New Year's Eve with them up at their house with other families and all our kids. Everyone brings board games, food, drink & we ring in the New Year together. I am blessed to count her amongst my friends!

Over the past year Susan had been having struggles with her health. She is a marathon runner and had some issues with her foot at one point. Then one day when she was out for a run, she blacked out and the park police found her fallen on the side of the road! (They live literally on a mountain, up on the property of the local gun range, her husband is the range master up there) So, there began the concern with her mental well-being. I believe she had another blackout, possibly, I can't recall the details....I had growing concern for her...I worried what might be wrong. She started acting rather odd and "spacey". She just wasn't herself at all...

On Saturday, September 27th, Susan got up and left her home for an earlymorning Bible Study....she never arrived at the Bible study and was never seen or heard from again. Susan has now been missing for 11 days...

My heart is heavy. Her husband is besides himself. Overnight he became a single parent, working full-time (saving grace that he lives where he works and they homeschool!!!) and managing 4 boys! The church has rallied around the family and 2 friends that homeschool (1 is me) have taken in the 3 younger boys and are schooling them with their own kids. I am coordinating meals for them so that the husband doesn't have to worry about feeding the kids while he has regular meetings with the police investigators and church pastors, etc!

It seems that Susan possibly returned home later that morning and collected some personal items, such as a toothbrush, but neglected to take her cell phone....all these things leave us all confused. Did she plan to leave all along? What was her mental state? How could no one know what was going on with her? How unbelievably sad that she may have been so unhappy for whatever reason that she would leave her 4 children behind without a trace, without a word, explanation or good-bye! It absolutely devastates me to think of her out there somewhere...is she okay physically? Mentally? What in God's name is happening with her? I want answers, her family wants answers....I can only imagine, if I am hurting like I am, how about her 9 year old boy? How can you even begin to explain how a mom could leave her babies...regardless of how old they are, our children are our children...something has got to be wrong mentally, in my opinion, for a woman to just up and leave...

So, I am sending flyers to shelters, coordinating meals, schooling her young teenage son, making phone calls, worrying, crying, praying, pleading to God that she is okay, that He would just send some tiny sign of her, in whatever way, so that we may know SOMETHING....the not knowing is the absolute hardest part.

I guess the lesson in all this is the old adage of "tell the people you care about that you care when you see them, for no reason because you may never know, tomorrow they may be gone..."

So, to all my friends who are reading this blog entry: Thank you, thank you, for the blessing of your friendship! Our lives get so busy and it takes time to stay in touch, to show one another that we care...but it's SO worth the effort! I love you all SO MUCH!!!

Gratefully yours,
Eliana