Wednesday afternoon we have to get groceries, and pay the utilities, so a little before 3pm, I round the kids up and head out. Since it's so close to 3, we decide to swing through McDonalds and pick up a hot fudge sundae and go surprise Gramma with a visit. We drive through the electric co-op's window and drop off the bill. (Madeleine: Where are we, Mommy? Me: We are paying the electric bill. Madeleine: But I'm too little to pay bills!) We drive through McDonald's and get a sundae for mom and a kiddie cone for Madeleine. I thoroughly confuse the McDonald's lady by asking for her cone in a cup. We get to Bush School and have a pleasant visit. A little before 4pm, we walk out with Mom and say goodbye. She was heading home, we were going to WalMart for groceries.
When we get to Wal Mart, I notice that the Lions Club is collecting change at the door. After getting Noah out of his car seat, I walk around to the other side of the car, open the front passenger door, and set him down in the seat to look for change in my purse. I give him my keys to keep his attention away from the gearshift and other dashboard stuff. I find fifty cents, collect the baby, get Madeleine out, lock the car, and go. I let Madeleine put the two quarters into the empty bleach jug and the lady gives me a hard time about not letting Madeleine have the roll of crappy mints they hand out. First of all, they're crappy. Second of all, she's too little for hard candy. Third, I'm MOM!
Almost an hour later, after we've loaded our cart with more than $100 worth of hamburger, frozen pizza, and other necessities, we head back to the car. Madeleine helps me push the cart through the lot, thereby staying between me and the cart, keeping her away from the maniacs who treat the WalMart parking lot like the Autobahn. As soon as we get to the car, she yells "Tag! You're it!" and dashes OUT into the middle of the lot, missing an oncoming car by a couple of feet. Thankfully, the car was way out in the middle of the drive and was going slow. She scared me to death. I used my angry voice.
After my attempt at communicating the danger of tag in a parking lot to my two year old, I start looking for my keys in my purse. I looked. And looked again. No keys in my purse. I knew exactly where they were.
I looked through the window, into the front passenger seat, and there they were.
Crap.
I have never ever locked my keys in the car before in my life. And now I had done it with a ton of groceries and two hungry, squirrley toddlers on my hands.
Crap.
I dragged my full cart and my kids back to the store entrance and sat on the bench to start thinking and calling. I called Dad's cell first - voicemail. Then I called Kelly's cell - voicemail. I then called Shannon, who I have forgotten to mention is in St. Louis and won't be home until 8pm. He has the only other key to the Liberty. He offers to find a locksmith for me, and this sounds like a plan. I try my mom's cell, in case she or dad had any other ideas, or had a locksmith they would refer to me. Dad answers, so I tell him the idiot thing I've done. He tells me to cancel the locksmith, it'll cost too much. He said that Mom could come get me, and we work out a plan. See, getting picked up would be great, if the car seats weren't locked in the car with the keys. However, Mom has a seat for the girl. I decide to run back into WalMart and pick up a car/booster seat for Noah, since it is time for him to be turned around anyway. Shannon gets called, and he in turn, calls off the locksmith. He will come to Mom and Dad's when he gets back into town, and we'll go get the Liberty at WalMart.
I haul my cart and kids back into the store. The greeter gives us a very funny look, and I tell her, "I locked my keys in the car." She said, "Girl, why did you do that?" Thanks. Inside, we find a carseat for the boy and I let Madeleine pick out a new book to look at while we wait for Gramma. Naturally, she chooses Princess books. Whatever, she's amused and not whining. We go back out to sit on our bench like refugees and wait for Mom to rescue me, my kids, and my groceries. Hooray for Mom!
The kids playing on the horsey-ride thingy while we wait.
Noah enjoys facing front!
The girl reading two princess books at once.
It's been a long day for all of us!
3 comments:
When we were living in the Great Lakes Naval Station area, I once locked a new kitten in the car with a toddler (John) and a preschooler (Kelly) in tow. Fortunately, John L. could come the naval base to rescue us!
I may have been involved with John at the hospital when you got locked out at Walmart, but in the future put me on your Fulton rescue list...we could have at least put your frozen stuff in my garage freezer.
Thanks Kay. I actually considered calling you, but I figured you guys were busy with him when I got Kelly's voicemail. Hope he's feeling better!
Very interesting article. You had a very uncomfortable situation. Probably locksmith had a lot of work. I also once forgot keys inside the car. Hiring a good locksmith is never cheap. But hiring a dishonest or incompetent one is always expensive. And I called a locksmith and he is also said that will come in 30 minutes, but he came in 45 minutes. Anyway I wasn't angry on him, because he help me, he opened the car in 5 minutes. So, the locksmith was very handy for me in this tight situation.
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