Or you can't plan for everything. Friday nights a friend, L, and I have dinner. It's a great way to finish out the week. And, who doesn't enjoy having not to cook. A week ago this past Friday we were both exhausted and I was getting ready to go out of town on Sunday for three days. Had a lot on my mind. Since L uses a scooter, we frequently make a Target or Wal-Mart run as it's easier on her and I don't mind. So, even as tired as we were, for me it was either Friday or Saturday for the Target run and I didn't want to go on Saturday. So, we fortified ourselves with dinner and then headed for the Target. So far, so good. Now, I've lost a good deal of weight and most of my pants are loose, really loose. I usually hang my keys in the watch pocket part, easier to keep up with them. Except in these pants the pocket was a little bigger and of course, I'm yanking them up every time I turn around. I put my stuff in my car and then I go put her stuff in her car. Well, I send her on her way and go to get in my car, only to discover I don't have my keys. They fell out in her van. To make matters worse, for some reason, I locked my car. Probably out of habit. If I hadn't been so tired, I think I would have cried. It's after 8:00 pm and all of my stuff - purse, phone, spare car key, everything, is locked in my car. And, my keys are in L's van. And, she's practically out of the parking lot by the time I realize this. I gave serious consideration to chasing after her, but I'm just not that fast.
So, I head to the restaurant we ate at and ask if they have a phone book. Since my phone is in my car, I have no idea what L's number is but figured I'd look it up and call her so she'd know and come back. No phone book, but they kindly called 411. Her number wasn't listed. I know she'll come back if she finds the keys, but what if she doesn't find them? So, they help find the number for Pop-a-Lock and we call them. It's a toss up - if I don't call them, L won't find the keys until tomorrow, if I do call, she'll find them and come back. Pop-a-Lock estimates a 30 minute time frame and I head to my car.
Pop-a-Lock finally gets there (cool thing about them is if there is a child locked in the vehicle, they don't charge). And, about five minutes later, L arrives. She found my keys. Pop-a-Lock didn't charge me the full fee because they didn't actually open the car, which I was especially grateful for.
Lesson here is that no matter what you plan for, short of keeping all items on your person, you can't plan for everything. However, the big lesson we learned is we make sure each other is in their vehicle and headed out before leaving. Why we didn't do it that night, as we usually do, I'll never know. I could laugh about it when L got there, but when I realized what happened, I wished I'd just stayed in bed that morning.
