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One evening about four months ago my (then) 9-year-old daughter was missing for about four hours. I had neglected several of the cardinal rules of good parenting and allowed her to go with a friend and her mom to Chuck E Cheese without knowing the mother's cell phone number (or giving her mine) or the apartment she lived in (they had just moved to a new apartment). So instead of bringing her home after Chuck E Cheese, she decided to wander around town shopping and getting her 'eyebrows done' while I was nearly catatonic with fear. Police were swarming the apt complex, the whole bit. They were finally found at the nearby WalMart at about 9:30. It was the most dreadful fear I have ever felt in my life, I was totally traumatized - nearly paralyzed with fear, and I don't believe I will ever get over it.
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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