It’s How You Handle It
By: Jordan Wagner
I can’t begin to tell you how stressed I was about writing this. But after considering the various topic suggestions, I quickly realized who has positively impacted my life. Let me take you back to my childhood when a few different incidents took place in my family. After all this, my mom has impacted my life in the most positive way possible.
October 28th, 2005 – like most days, I went to a friend’s house after school until my mom came home. But this time, it was a family friend that came to get me. He said, “Your mom needs you to get home right now. There is an issue at home.” So, I gathered my things, and we started walking the block to my house. As we walked up, I noticed my dad was there and everyone was standing outside the house in the rain. When I finally made it up to everyone, they told me the house had caught fire that day. After a day or two of investigating, the fire department concluded it was an arson fire, but that was just the calm before the storm.
Thursday, January 5th, 2006 – my family received some of the worst news you can possibly think of. The words “your mom is missing” are something you hear in a movie or a big city, not in little ole Gridley, Illinois. From that moment on, I went into a state of panic, worry, and thought “Am I ever going to see her again?” After about eight hours of her missing, the phone rang, and my sister Lindsey answered it. It was our mom. She called to tell us she was ok and on her way to Colorado Springs to help a friend move. Knowing that was not true, my sister asked her over and over again to promise us she would make it back ok. With tears in her eyes, my mom replied, “I promise I will see you guys again.” After that, we lost all communication with her. The police struggled to find any leads on where exactly they were going, but they knew who had her.
Fast forward to Saturday, January 7th – almost 48 hours since we heard from her, and the phone rings again. This time, all our prayers were finally answered. It was the police saying that my mom had escaped from her abductor, and she was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. My sisters, stepdad and a few detectives met at the airport in Bloomington, where a private jet was rented for us to go pick her up. When we finally landed in South Dakota, FBI agents were waiting for us to get off the plane in black SUVs, just like you see in the movies. They took us to the police station where we finally reunited with her. After a few hours of waiting to be officially released, we were on our way back to Illinois. Our family and my mom’s closest friends were all waiting at the airport to welcome her home.
Despite this, my mom never lived her life playing the “victim,” and for that, she has inspired me more than anyone. Seeing her strength through that tough time, and even the tough couple of months after, had a huge positive impact on my life. Living through this experience has changed how I approach personal and work-related situations. It made me realize something: it’s not always what happens to you that defines who you are as a person, but how you handle it.
