My son went missing at 9:30 pm Sunday night.
He’d gone snowmobiling with friends on Sunday afternoon and they had set up a bonfire on the other side of the lake and proceeded to get pissed. At 9:30 pm Geoff took off alone, drunk, heading across the lake. The friends decamped and crossed the lake to home a little while later. Geoff wasn’t there when they got back but his truck was still there. The guys sat around the kitchen table and drank some more. It was only when one of the girls in the group really got concerned when he still hadn’t arrived by 11pm that anyone started to look for him. She called Geoff’s girlfriend to ask if she had seen Geoff and that got the girlfriend worried. She went to the house and they started to search in earnest. She called here at midnight, upset, voice unsteady and said “I can’t find Geoff”.
My husband woke when the phone rang and I relayed the message. He got up, got dressed, got directions, grabbed some gear and he was gone. On a side note, if you are ever lost, hurt or injured, my husband is the guy you want looking for you. He’s spent most of his life firstly as a firefighter (he’s actually a Chief) but he has always been a volunteer Search & Rescue member. He is an instructor in high angle rope rescue, a member of swift water rescue and a leader in searches. There was a great deal of comfort for me in that knowledge.
They searched the pitch black lake for hours, my husband called the RCMP to see if they would help in the search but they refused to do anything till morning. I got a call around 2:30 am from my husband frustrated by the RCMP’s lack of concern. It was then I knew he had the same fear I did that Geoff had gone through the ice into the lake. It’s a big lake, probably 12 km lengthwise and 2 km across. When the weather warms up the thickness of the ice is always unknown.
For the next few hours I paced, wrote an email, tried to read, always keeping the big fear just far enough back so I could function. I refused to cry. In 20 years my son has never scared me like this. He’s usually incredibly reliable, considerate and level headed. I wanted to be so angry that he was that drunk and behaving stupidly but I couldn’t muster the anger.
The phone rang at 4:23 am, I let it ring twice before picking up. It was my husband, all he said was “he’s safe”. I love a man of few words. He said they’d be home in an hour and then he hung up. I had my cry and felt an overwhelming self of relief.
They got home at 5:05am. I hugged Geoff and told him to go to bed. We all slept till noon and it wasn’t until later yesterday that we got Geoff’s side of the story. His snowmobile had broken down 500 yds. from where he started but he was drunk and tired and just passed out in the snow. He had worked until 8 am Sunday morning (night shift) and come straight home from camp, no sleep, very little to eat and the alcohol just hit him like a ton of bricks. It was -9 Celsius so he only slept for an hour and a half before his frozen hands (in gloves) woke him up. For 4 hours he walked (stumbled) the length of the lake until he finally started to sober up and realized what he was doing. He headed for the shore and once there got on the road and kept walking and that is where the girl that had originally been concerned picked him up. He had no idea we had been so worried so when that finally sunk in last night he gave me a big hug and we had a great conversation. I didn’t yell at him but he allowed me to vent all my worst fears and concerns about his total lack of judgement. I think he has learned a huge lesson from this and that is all we can expect as parents.
My husband woke when the phone rang and I relayed the message. He got up, got dressed, got directions, grabbed some gear and he was gone. On a side note, if you are ever lost, hurt or injured, my husband is the guy you want looking for you. He’s spent most of his life firstly as a firefighter (he’s actually a Chief) but he has always been a volunteer Search & Rescue member. He is an instructor in high angle rope rescue, a member of swift water rescue and a leader in searches. There was a great deal of comfort for me in that knowledge.
They searched the pitch black lake for hours, my husband called the RCMP to see if they would help in the search but they refused to do anything till morning. I got a call around 2:30 am from my husband frustrated by the RCMP’s lack of concern. It was then I knew he had the same fear I did that Geoff had gone through the ice into the lake. It’s a big lake, probably 12 km lengthwise and 2 km across. When the weather warms up the thickness of the ice is always unknown.
For the next few hours I paced, wrote an email, tried to read, always keeping the big fear just far enough back so I could function. I refused to cry. In 20 years my son has never scared me like this. He’s usually incredibly reliable, considerate and level headed. I wanted to be so angry that he was that drunk and behaving stupidly but I couldn’t muster the anger.
The phone rang at 4:23 am, I let it ring twice before picking up. It was my husband, all he said was “he’s safe”. I love a man of few words. He said they’d be home in an hour and then he hung up. I had my cry and felt an overwhelming self of relief.
They got home at 5:05am. I hugged Geoff and told him to go to bed. We all slept till noon and it wasn’t until later yesterday that we got Geoff’s side of the story. His snowmobile had broken down 500 yds. from where he started but he was drunk and tired and just passed out in the snow. He had worked until 8 am Sunday morning (night shift) and come straight home from camp, no sleep, very little to eat and the alcohol just hit him like a ton of bricks. It was -9 Celsius so he only slept for an hour and a half before his frozen hands (in gloves) woke him up. For 4 hours he walked (stumbled) the length of the lake until he finally started to sober up and realized what he was doing. He headed for the shore and once there got on the road and kept walking and that is where the girl that had originally been concerned picked him up. He had no idea we had been so worried so when that finally sunk in last night he gave me a big hug and we had a great conversation. I didn’t yell at him but he allowed me to vent all my worst fears and concerns about his total lack of judgement. I think he has learned a huge lesson from this and that is all we can expect as parents.