Like many across the nation, I’ve been caught up in the Casey Anthony trial the past few weeks: I’ve been watching the news nonstop all day long and following online stories, blogs and the madness that has taken over Twitter. The drama runs high there with arguing and name calling, complete with a fake Judge Perry and an assortment of other characters from the case.

But in between the tweets regarding Anthony’s case and unrelated silly banter between some Twitter pals, there are other tweets that have caught my eye regarding missing college student Lauren Spierer. I’ve seen the story mentioned briefly on the news and decided I could help at least a little, so I retweeted a few messages to help get the word out and began to follow the main source of info on her case (@NewsOnLaurenS). These tweets asked for help to spread the word, requested any information to be passed along to law enforcement agencies and any other assistance that could be afforded to help the search efforts.

As I’ve watched the Casey Anthony case (and have subjected Ms. Anthony to a range of criticisms as to how I would be acting were it my child missing) I’ve come to realize a few things: if either of my children disappeared, I’d be beside myself. I’d be inconsolable. I wouldn’t eat or drink or sleep but would be out on the street pounding doors, retracing steps.

Or maybe I would be furiously tweeting away, begging for help from anyone and everyone?

Thankfully I am not in this position and can’t imagine being so, although my now 12-year old daughter was missing for an entire heart-stopping 4 hours on her second day of kindergarten. She wasn’t dropped off at her afternoon bus stop. I waited for ten, fifteen, thirty minutes. I called the school. I called the bus depot. The bus dispatch center radioed to all buses asking if my daughter was on their bus.

Nothing.

I called 911 and tried my best to remember what she’d worn to school that day. Was her shirt pink or was it purple? Was she wearing sneakers or flats? What in God’s name did her backpack look like??! Oh Jesus…

I wasn’t sure where to go: should I stay at home in case she showed up? Was she walking along a busy road by herself? Was she lost? Hurt? Crying? Scared? Did some evil person snatch her away? My mind wandered into what can only be described as the worst nightmare for a parent to consider: the worst case scenarios that pop into your mind when thinking your child is gone.

I just stood by and watched helplessly as deputies radioed out her description to the dispatch center for broadcast. I recalled my own experiences as a 911 dispatcher receiving calls from frantic parents reporting a missing child. I held on to hope that of all the calls I ever received, the child was found safe at a friend’s house or elsewhere unharmed.

Thankfully my little girl was returned safely although hot and sweaty and scared. There was a mixup in her bus route but the driver decided not to stop to take her back to her school but instead took her and another girl on separate  junior high and senior high bus routes all over town.

My friends, four hours is nothing compared to a day, a week, a month of wondering where your beloved child has gone.

I’ve wondered if I would have been able to help search for little Caylee Anthony had I lived in the area. As I see the pictures of her sweet face on the television I certainly wish I had been able to help.

This turns my attention to the pretty young Lauren Spierer. She IS missing, NOW, and people CAN help to search for her and be part of bringing her home.

I’d encourage anyone reading this to consider helping as well. Perhaps you live close-by and can help with a search. Perhaps you can donate money to help the search efforts. Maybe you have thousands of followers and can retweet a few messages to help out. Even if you have a few followers, we all are interconnected somehow across the world, and out there is SOMEONE WHO KNOWS SOMETHING.

Take a minute or two, please, and do whatever you can to help find Lauren or any child/young adult you’ve heard of who is missing. This happens too often, far too often, and those missing are WAITING to be found. Don’t make them wait another second!

If it was your child missing, you would want everyone in the world to know and to help. Right?

Please go here for more information: http://newsonlaurens.blogspot.com/ or http://findlauren.com/