my personal heart attack

It's no secret that Brooklyn isn't a fan of sleeping. She quit taking naps soon after we moved to Des Moines. If I remember correctly it was before her 2nd birthday. She is usually willing enough to go to bed, but generally reads for hours on end once there. It's a common occurance to find her still awake when I go in to tuck them in when I go to bed. It annoys the crap out of me that she just won't go to sleep, but as she stays in bed (for the most part) I just don't know what to do about it. What does this have to do with a heart attck, you ask? Well, last night was no exception. We put the kids to bed, and within a half hour, guess who was upstairs asking for one thing or another? Yep, Brooklyn. I sent her back to bed and warned her that if she got up again I would spank her bottom (yes, I spank from time to time. Please don't report me to child services :) ). She listened due to the warning and didn't come upstairs again. However, around 10:30 my Mother-in-law and I heard doors opening and closing downstairs (where we are staying at the moment). I went down to investigate, fully prepared to get Brooklyn in trouble (unless of course she was going potty, b/c who wants to clean that up?). I went into the kids' room to find Brooklyn's bed empty and all her blankets and pillows on the floor. I looked for her in the bathroom. She wasn't there. She wasn't in the office. She wasn't in my room. She wasn't in the "green" spare room. She wasn't in the other bathroom. She wasn't in my sis-in-law's room. She wasn't in the "pink" spare room. She wasn't in the garage. By now, I was totally freaking out and running all over the house. Logically she couldn't have left without us really knowing. We always hear the doors open and close and I knew the back door was locked. Nonetheless, I was FREAKING OUT! By this time, Jon was looking too. He found her in the other spare room in the basement where we have a few of our things. She was digging through the box from our medicine cabinet, holding a box of bandaids, and asking about tylenol. I was so upset, I couldn't even talk to her just then. I saw her sitting there on the floor and had to go in my room and close the door. Good thing Jon was here to chat with her. I'm not sure exactly what would have been said. I've never been so upset about something in my life. It took a good 1/2 hour for me to settle down enough to sleep. Tonight, we may go to bed without books and see if that forces her to go to sleep a little quicker and save me some anguish. OIY!