Keys

It's amazing how something so little can cause you so much stress.

Car keys.

I'd love to hear your own stories about the drama associated with losing a key to a vehicle. Or a key to a house. And in the meantime, I'll share mine.

Firstly, if you think losing your car keys is bad, I'll top that for you. How 'bout losing car keys to a car that doesn't belong to you? And how 'bout losing those car keys with three small children in tow?

Yep, that was my Friday.

Borrowed Nick and Kristy's jeep. Our van needed to pass some Island inspection, and I had a meeting to attend. (Did I tell you all that it looks like I'm going to be starting a MOPs group on Base?) So since I still haven't been properly refreshed on how to drive stick, especially on an island with an incredibly large number of hills, I needed a vehicle.

Took their jeep. Went to my meeting. After my meeting the kids and I walked across the street to the shoppette to get a few things with coupons for products which are not available in the grocery store. By the time I returned to the borrowed jeep, the car keys were nowhere in sight. My keys were. But Nick and Kristy's keys, which I had attached to my own, were nowhere to be found.

I flashed back. The kids had been pulling stuff out of my diaper bag during my meeting. Abigail had been playing with my keys while we were in the Shoppette. I had noticed the chain they were on was loose when I hooked them onto my keys. They could be a number of places.

So I retraced all my steps. I didn't have a stroller for Abigail since I was counting on using a grocery cart to haul her around. And the boys had worn their army rain boots which make walking a slow-go. One full round retracing my steps, left me no closer to finding my keys.

So we walked to the Clinic to see if JB could help. Maybe watch a kid for me while I retraced our steps ... again. He could not. Seeing patients. Ran into some friends at the park. They watched the boys for me while I retraced again. No luck. I left my name at the Community Center. The Fitness Center. The Shoppette. Ran into JB. He then helped me go back through my steps all over again. Still no luck.

By this point I am in tears. Still carrying Abigail on my hip. Knowing that Nick and Kristy do not have an extra key as this was an island bomb that they purchased when they got here. Also realizing that I have three little kids and no way to get them home.

I retrieve the boys from the park and thank my friends profusely for helping watch them while we looked without luck. JB had to get back to work. It was nearing 1pm by this time -- two hours after I first noticed the keys were missing. Everyone was crabby and hungry. Sidge was actually saying, "Mommy, my legs are willy tired." I felt so bad for how crabby I was that I told the boys, "You guys have been doing a good job. Mommy is just really frustrated."

(Did I mention that when I retraced with the kiddos in tow, they kept saying, "Look what I found?!" only to then point out ice cream or candy. Not funny when you are looking for something!)

So we are stuck on Base. And so we are hungry. So I returned to the Shoppette to try to figure out something we can eat. Everything else was just too far to walk to without a stroller and without a car. As we are buying some Nutri Grain bars and a sausage biscuit and other foods that didn't go together whatsoever, the man behind the counter says, "Did they tell you?"

"Tell me? No."

"Oh. Well, we found your keys!" They knew me by name by this point. I'd been back in over and over again asking, "Has anyone found anything?"

They told me that they found the two keys attached to different grocery carts. Abigail had been playing with my keys and so obviously the not-attached-tightly-enough set had come off and snagged on the grocery cart.

I coulda hugged the man. Maybe I did. I can't remember.

We had a picnic in JB's office before heading home. I returned the jeep to Kristy. "How'd it go?" she asked. I told her it was the worst day of my life. That was probably a huge overstatement, but at that moment, it sure felt like one of the cruddiest days of my life.

I never did make it to the grocery store as I had planned. JB went for me instead to pick up some fruit for a fruit salad for our olympic party at Nick and Kristy's later that evening. The party, was a roaring success and I quickly forgot about the frustrations of just a few hours prior.