I got lost once when I was very small. There was an Easter egg hunt in a large field near a wooded area (so far as I can recall or picture). My memories are not strong but I do remember the stories that were told to me about what happened.
I was confident, happy, and friendly in my earliest years. I made friends easily. At this Easter egg hunt, I decided to move toward the underexplored areas, away from where everyone was crowded and searching. I am sure I reasoned I would have the best chances at finding the eggs everyone else was missing. So I wandered farther and farther away from the designated hunt area. My absence was noted and then no one was searching for eggs any longer; they all were searching for me.
Finding me must have caused some irritation. There was no wailing small blond girl sitting on some tree stump, grateful to have been found. No pitiable wounded or scared child holding her arms out for rescue. Instead, there I was, pleased and happy, walking back in the direction of the hunting grounds, hand in hand with some nice stranger. I had no idea I'd done anything wrong. I'd had no idea of the danger: the trees, the train tracks I'd crossed, the stranger I met did not appear as threats or sources of worry to me.
I didn't know I'd been lost so it never occurred to me to be frightened.
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