Lesson Learned - Sometimes It's Best to Stay on the Sidewalk

Friday was a busy day. We loaded everything in our car to head to Utah to take mom home and go to a wedding. We were ready to leave as soon as the boys were done with school. Christian was in a geography bee at the middle school and so we had made arrangements for the 2 elementary school boys to walk the 1 block to the middle school to meet us there. They were supposed to arrive around 3 p.m. When they didn't arrive I went outside to look for them. A few minutes later Gerry went out to look for them, but still now sign of them.
We concluded they must have forgotten to come to the middle school and had taken the bus. That would give us 20 minutes before they were home.
Unfortunately, Christian missed his question and was eliminated from the competition. We raced home, but the boys were not there. We left mom there to call us if they arrived. We headed back towards to the schools and called the elementary school - no sign of the boys. I began to panic. Had they been abducted?
As we passed by the middle school our friend Heather began honking and waving ferociously. Thank heavens she had the boys in her minivan. She explained what happened.
Apparently, the boys decided it would be more fun to walk off the sidewalk in the snow. Jeremiah's leg fell in a deep hole- possibly an animal den. He couldn't get out. He sent his little brother for help. Little brother flagged down our friend Heather who was driving past them. After a great struggle she was able to get Jeremiah's leg out, but had to go home to get a shovel to dig out the boot. Jeremiah's leg was pretty numb and we are lucky he didn't get frost bite.
So, my boys learned a valuable lesson. Sometimes the clear and straight path may not be as fun to travel, but in the end it may prove to be the safest way to go.