Lockout

My morning began with quite the adventure. It's very cold here right now, -7 according to one thermometer. So this morning I wanted to be kind to my car and allow it to warm up a little before driving it. At 7:30am I put on a hat, scarf and my coat, grabbed all my stuff and headed out to my car. After starting my car, I thought I'd go back in the house and wait a little. Unfortunately, I left my house keys in the car and locked the car behind me. I stood there in shock for a moment and felt really stupid. Then I quickly determined that I better find a neighbor whose phone I could use to call AAA since my cell phone was also in the car.

Sadly, I've only officially met one of my neighbors so I started with his house but no one was home. I met the same thing at 4 other houses. (At this point, I feel the need to add one rather funny detail. When I left the house, I had just gotten out of the shower and my hair was wet. This was the main reason I chose to put on a hat. Well as I'm walking from house to house, it was slightly windy so my hair was blowing around. Then my hair froze. At one house, I caught a reflection of myself and had to laugh. The first thing that came to mind was that I looked like a witch (from a cartoon) - my hair had blown out on the sides and then frozen that way and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move it out of my face or put it back down. I wish I could've taken a picture.)

Finally, I met Gloria who lives a couple houses down from me. I saw her car running in the driveway so I knew she would be home. She was just about to leave to do laundry but agreed to let me use the phone. I called AAA 12 times, each time reaching the automated system and upon choosing the roadside assistance option, I heard a busy signal. Beginning to feel a little desperate, I chose another department and sat on hold for 10 minutes before it cut me off. By this time, Gloria had loaded up her laundry and was clearly wanting to leave so I quickly dialed the only phone number I had memorized - a friend who lives nearby. Given my luck up to this point, you can probably guess what happened - he didn't answer either of the two times that I called.

Unsure of what to do, I sat there shivering and wracking my brain for options. The police! I live just a few blocks from the police department and I knew they would help me out. I informed Gloria that I was going to walk over there and ask them for help. She offered to drop me off and I quickly agreed since I was still trying to thaw out from my last outing. Upon arrival at the police station, I explained my situation and was told to sit and wait for a policeman to come.

When he arrived, I went to the parking lot and was told to sit in the backseat right behind the cop. Have you ever been in the back of a police car? Don't do it. Because of the wall that's between you & him, your knees are squished and it's terribly uncomfortable. Not only that, but you can't help but feel as though you've done something wrong. When we got to my house, he asked me to remain in the car while he unlocked it, a task he did very quickly.

After signing a few things, I was released from the back of the police car and got into my car and heading off to work via Starbucks because I decided I needed a hot drink to help me thaw out. What a way to start a Monday! I'm still cold an hour later but at least I can laugh at this experience.

Lessons learned:
1. Put an extra car key is in my jacket pocket.
2. Memorize more phone numbers of friends.
3. Don't do anything that might land me in the back of a cop car.