I love to walk. . . but not this much

My day was off to a good start yesterday. I decided on my drive home from work that I would skip my class at church since I hadn't purchased the book we were supposed to read. Even if I would have stopped to buy it on my way home, I wouldn't have gotten to read the chapter that was assigned to my group. The class starts at 6:15 pm., I usually make it home between 5:15 and 5:30. I decide to go to the park so that I can walk around the trail there. The kids and I get there maybe around 6:30ish. I put my purse on the floor of the back seat, I place the car keys under the armrest, open my door, lock the doors and then close my door. Everything is going great. I stretch a little and start my fast pace walk. After a while my daughter joins me. She takes a break every now and then as I continue my 8 lap walk.

We start to leave and approach the car. I soon realized that I HAVE LOCKED MY KEYS AND MY CELL PHONE IN THE CAR! This is NOT happening to me. I had told my son to grab his keys because they can hook onto his belt loop and I wouldn't have to worry about carrying my keys or tying a key on my shoelace. What I didn't stop to realize was that the key that he has is the HOUSE key! On the brighter side of things, at least I had him bring it. It would have been much worse if we were locked out of the car and our home.

So I'm standing there, just dumbounded (o.k. and pissed off too). I'm trying to think how to get in the car (without breaking a window). I pull on the door handles -- yeah right, as if they're really going to unlock on their own. Then we did what I was dreading -- we walked home (another 2 miles in addition to the 2 that I had just walked). My poor daughter was tired. I had to carry her on my back several times. My son was a true hero. He handled it just like a man :). No whining or pouting from my big boy.

Well, we made it home and I called a friend. She called her brother (who works for the cellular company that I have service with) to get a number for roadside assistance. We're talking to one of the reps and I make it a point to tell her that my cell phone is locked inside my car and I am unable to be reached at that number. I give her my girlfriend's cell phone number as a contact. She said that someone would be there to assist me anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour and to make sure that I was with the car when they arrived (not a problem). Me and my darling children leave our home going back to the park (another 2 miles). This time I got the bright idea to let them ride their bikes so that it won't be as tiring for them (good thinking, VERY good thinking). So off we go, mama walking and the kids riding. Just to make sure that I don't miss them I tried to jog more than walk. We get to the car I'd say about 8 p.m. or a few minutes before. We wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Soon, it's dark and the street lights are on. O.k., I am extremely pissed now. My kids are tired & hungry. Luckily there was a water fountain at the park that I let them drink from (only under these circumstances -- otherwise they would have had to wait until we made it home or went by a store to buy bottled water).

I get tired of waiting and we leave the park to go back home (another 2 miles). The kids riding their bikes and mama walking & jogging behind (much more jogging now). We decide to go a different route this time due to the large rottweiler that we had passed twice (leaving the 1st time and coming back). Some idiot, God forgive me, but hey -- this person had this big dog tied to a tree on some type of rigged up rope/chain combo. The thing was red whatever it was. And, it wasn't tied around the bottom trunk of the tree. The dog was chained to one of the branches! Come on, now -- a 100+ lb. dog tied to a tree BRANCH -- not a very thick branch either. There is no fence or enclosure that would keep the dog contained if it were to break a branch or the chain. I decided that we would not chance it.

We made it home around 9:45 p.m. I called roadside assistance to find out what happened. They said that someone came but I was not at the car. I point blank told them that I didn't believe that they showed up & the reasons why. This morning my children's father dropped them off at school and took me to my car once again after I called roadside assistance again. They finally showed up and took less than 5 minutes to unlock the door. Just as I had already suspected, they were unable to find the park yesterday and the only contact number they had was my cell phone number!

I am sure that today will be much more pleasant than yesterday. If I do decide to go walking today, I will have my spare key tied to my shoelace BEFORE I leave my home.

Too much drama for a single mama :) !