I mustn't leave my mobile phone at home

Subject: I mustn't leave my mobile phone at home.

And so we ask ourselves, should old people be allowed out at night by themselves without being accompanied or, without some sort of electronic tag so they can be found if lost. The stress of losing an older member of family if they go shopping and they have a 'funny turn' as we used to call it, is similar to losing a child in the fair ground. Both are vulnerable and we panic thinking the worst. Thoughts flood into our mind of how to begin the search, where to go, who to ask and who to contact to help in the search, the police, the ambulance service or the hospitals. You are a novice at this detective work and because the person is dear to you the typical response is to think the worst.
I remember the panic we felt when Angela wandered off unnoticed in the Blackpool Tower pleasure resort. Sheer unadulterated panic as you tore around calling out desperate to find her, which of course we did, she unaware was engrossed in watching something which had caught her eye. The trick of course is to be there at their side day and night, never taking your eye off them, always on guard against any sort of threat, losing what might be described as your own individuality and subsuming it in the child's every need There was a fashion where young children were fit up with a harness to which a lead was attached and the mum or dad simply trailed around at the other end of the lead, much like the tail wagging the dog.

When we get old many of us become, once more vulnerable, slipping away on some adventure or simply out on a shopping expedition but unknown to anyone and therefore, if and when things go wrong, as they can, the thread is lost and the sanctuary of a lead is also lost. The options are endless as you start to consider your best action.
Would she have gone to Morrisons, Aldi or Tesco. Has she or he gone to visit friends. 
Your repeated call to the mobile phone you assume she/he has on them rings and rings asking to leave a message. Where can they be it's dark, after 7pm and far too late to be out. Anxious you start the needle in a haystack search, Tesco first. You feel such a chump not having the car registration number, reluctant to approach  the police and anyway it's only 7pm, the police are short staffed so you get into the car and drive to Tesco.
Have you seen an old lady (yes dear we have thousands of them) you ask the desk. Yes comes the reply she's in the office being looked after my the paramedic. A wave of relief and then the worry pulses through your system, what can have happened, is she ok. There she is surrounded by people who are trying to piece together the next course of action, taxi home or hospital for the night. Your relief is palpable as the horror stories flooding your mind are filed back for another day and the smiles say it all, the smile of a daughter who has found her mum and the smile of a mum who has found her daughter. Like a naughty child the look of relief is made more poignant by the realisation, perhaps for the first time, of their vulnerability  and the stinging reminder that I mustn't leave my mobile phone at home when I come out !!