Sunday, July 6, 2008

Where are the keys???

This morning I wanted to go to my church in Chicago at least one more time before leaving for Guatemala. So, that meant getting up early and driving up to Chicago this morning after just moving from there yesterday. I, of course, was running late and realized I still had to stop for gas just to be on the safe side. So I rush to the gas station and when I turned off the car I went to take the keys with me, a habit that I formed while living in Chicago. But after hesitating I thought, well, i'm in Lowell and can just leave the keys in the ignition. So, I get out and pump the gas using my credit card to pay at the pump and go to get back in my car . . . door locked!!!!!!!!!!!! Wait, I remember leaving the keys in the ignition, and sure enough I could see them through the window, I could also see my purse and cell phone! I had forgotten about the other habit that I have formed in while living in Chicago which is to always lock my car doors when I get out, always - even at gas stations. So now it's Sunday morning, I'm already late, and no keys and no cell phone (and the only phone number I know by heart is my mom's . . . but she's in Africa!). The only other person at the gas station was a man getting into his minivan. I told him my keys were locked in my car and asked if he had any suggestions. He went to the back of his minivan and pulled out a couple tools to try and pry the door open enough to stick something else through in order to push the unlock button. He tried for a while and couldn't get the door pried open enough, so he went back to his minivan for another tool. With this he was able to get it unlocked!!!
What a relief!!!!!!!!! It set me back about 20 min., so not too bad, still made it on time for church because I was headed back early enough to go to sunday school, but definitely missed that!