My toddler ran away

Tonight, at around 10pm my 3 year old opened her door, opened the gate to the stairs, went down stairs, she put her shoes on, her jacket, and brought her favourite toy raptor. She tried to leave but the front door was locked. She set her raptor down.I came out of my room around 10:30, I went to wake her up to see if she needed to use the potty, but she wasn’t in her room. I immediately went downstairs. Saw her favourite toy raptor sitting on the floor beside the front door. I had a moment of relief when I went to turn the knob but it was still locked. That relief was completely replaced by panic when I checked the living room and saw the back patio door wide open. And worse, the gate to the backyard open as well. I immediately threw on my shoes, and demanded the other adult in my house to call the police. I ran all over, screaming her name. I called her day care provider because we walk to her house every morning, I had hoped that maybe she took that familiar route to her house. After about 15 mins of walking and screaming her name, someone stopped me and told me that she had been found, at the circle k, not far from where I was... almost immediately after that the police called me to tell me they had her. I told them I was almost there.I got really lucky, she was found by the daycare providers daughter, she was found by the right people. I never imagined something like this happening. I never imagined that my 3 year old would put on her shoes and zip up her jacket and unlock the back door, and unlatch the gate and then walk all the way to the corner store, crossing a busy street.I can’t sleep. My legs turned to jello the moment I saw her, I couldn’t even stand, I just sat there on that convenient store floor, holding my daughter, while crying my eyes out. I’ve never felt like a worse mother. I know, that this could have been so much worse, I know how lucky I am. I can’t sleep though, all I can think about is how close I was to losing her. I love her more than anything in this world, I can’t forgive myself. I will be buying a plethora of child safety locks for the doors tomorrow though... via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2IRGOD9