We had big plans yesterday. To take off to a localish ghost town and hike and picnic, swim and lounge. But the keys to our vehicle are missing. They had been missing the previous day as well but we shrugged it off, knowing we stumble upon them in the play kitchen, next to the toothbrushes or on the front steps. Like they always do. Didn’t happen.
We’ve been with only two car keys for a good bit now and misplaced one several weeks back. I thought a few times, (like every day when inevitably we wondered where the keys were and Ruby did her straight-legged run to some obscure place like the crayon bucket to reveal her treasure) I bet normal people have a better backup system than relying on their toddler to choose the day’s destiny. I bet organized people have several keys in magnetic boxes, with neighbors, in safes, on hooks, always where they are supposed to be.
We “found” the other key but it is in Red Lodge. Long, boring, irresponsible story short, we are without a way to drive our vehicle until Wednesday what with the holiday and all. I am pretty thankful for four things: a) living in a town where we can bike anywhere we need to go b) no matter the circumstance it really is fun to have a “free” day that isn’t what you planned c) our house hasn’t been this clean since we hosted dozens of friends on thermarests during our wedding week d) a sense of humor
a) We biked all over to friends’ for meals, a farm, the park, the store, the creek, the hood.
b) We putzed around our home, inside and out, while the girls invented all sorts of games. They made “hot chocolate” for hours.
c) By putzing I mean scouring every single corner, surface and nook searching for those damn keys. And, if one has to scour, one might as well do it with a broom and rag.
d) It really is very funny, both the situation and the predictability of it. I am appreciative to be surrounded by people who don’t sweat it and move on, creating new adventure.
Mama digs is on holiday today and will post on Wednesday. I am off to enjoy this day with my people and hoping it doesn’t rain since, of course, all the windows of our car are down.
xo,
dig
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all photos taken with a Canon Digital SLR from Vanns.com
19 Comments
Goodness, this made me laugh…I hope you are able to find your keys soon (or *some* keys), but in the meantime, thanks for showing yet once again how a simple shift in perspective can make all the difference. I am probably a tad less absent-minded than you, but still light years away from a friend who emails me three months in advance in order to ask whether we can schedule playdates for our sons “every sixth Thursday” during the school year, because her kids are that busy and that overscheduled. Bay Area, baby. Happy Labor Day to you and yours. Seems like you are having a great one
Heh heh! Love it. When we moved from Australia to Belgium we sold our car, and on the very last day before we flew out and gave the car to it’s new owner, our 2 year old lost the keys! Our house at the time was TOTALLY empty (we were about to rent it out) and the only place the keys could have gone was in to a charity clothes bin, or to the rubbish dump! We did have one spare, but it didn’t have the auto clickery thing on it, and it only worked on the drivers side door! Ooops.
I’m loving your blog 🙂 x Rhi
Oh, kids and keys! I’m not an organized person either. Our last car, we never did get a second key. I couldn’t find them one day, looked everywhere… finally remembered that Connor had been into ‘packing his suitcase’. We’d just come home from a 4 week long road trip. Sure enough… keys in his little monkey suitcase.
My youngest sister, when she was fairly close to Ruby’s age, permanently lost my mom’s car keys. My ex busted the ignition thingy off the column, and she drove that car for about 4 more years, using a giant screwdriver as an ignition key! LOL! Occasionally she also had to use the giant handle of the thing to whack on her cylenoid to get buggy to start.
Have fun with the rest of your unplanned down time!
This reminds me of your post a while back about trying to find your keys when the car alarm was going off, and how you thought the hoodlum teenagers down the street that were snickering had somehow snagged your keys. I vividly recall that it turned out that Margot was “napping” in your bed and had your keys the entire time. Too funny!
We’ve had a few incidences with our keys as well, but none of the stories are quite as entertaining as yours. 😉
OMG, I just read the last sentence and grabbed my face over my eyes, laughing and saying “oh boy” – I do hope that it doesn’t rain, but in the mean time – got a White-Trash blue tarp and some spare rocks/chunks of wood? They always help our disassembled jeep in a flash. Can’t say that our means of keeping the keys up high in a little basket helps. It doesn’t. We always seem to be missing either a jeep or a motorcycle key; but that’s because of our stupidity, not my child’s cunning ways.
Well, have a good time continuing to putz. I have a surprise napper, so mama gets a special treat of doing NOTHING.
Peace out.
-Jennifer from Annapolis
Good for you! Love shifting the perspective. What else can you do? Sit around and mope about it? No, thanks! Loved this post, thanks for sharing!
that hot chocolate would brighten any mood. make anything better. enjoying your photos and words so much! thanks for sharing!
Oh the last line made me laugh. I loose things all the time and am really ADD (like I have been diagnosed and medicated even though now I compensate with excercise a touch of OCD to keep my surroundings straight). When my husband gets annoyed with me, I say, “I know it is frustrating to be around me; Imagine how frustrating it is to BE ME!” It seems like you are light on frustrations and heavy on the joy for the journey. How fun!
A few weeks ago I couldn’t find my wedding ring while my husband was out of town with my boys. So, I spent the whole weekend, cleaning, looking in the drains (they needed cleaning anyway). I looked everywhere imaginable. I gave up. Then just when they were about to come home I found the [email protected]*cking thing under the laundry pile. I have no idea how it got there! I hope you find your key! 🙂
Sometimes I wish I would lose my keys, cell phone & computer….enjoy your “key-less” vacation!…xoxo
great story – love that you can write about it, in a postivie tone, in the midst of it going on. i’m sure the keys will turn up soon! enjoy the clean house.
Been there, done this more times than I care to recall. Check coat pockets!
Good luck finding the keys and getting along without them!
we often find ourselves in a hot key search around here as well. damned if i don’t know what happened to our second set of car keys and it just never occurred to me (until i read this post!) that things could go sour real quick if we lost our one-and-only set . . .
but isn’t great to embrace these funny moments and turn them into something so good?
i didn’t make your sale deadline, but i’m sure i’ll get me something good from your shop one day soon (:
xo!
Enjoy your lost keys! Seriously, it’s like having the power go out…roasting marshmallows over the gas stove, bedtime books by candlelight….
Last winter I made the mistake of letting Juniper play with the keys while I was getting her situated in her car seat. Long story short, she locked herself in the car. I also happened to be at my first “mom’s group” in my new community, so this is the first impression I gave. Of course, no spare set, no cell phone. Consequently, this is how I first met our one local cop.
Ah, yes, the age old story of the toddler and the keys. My 2-year-old son is a total hoarder and LOVES to stash things in random places. The part that amazes me is that he can go retrieve said item every stinking time with an impish grin followed by a “here it is momma”. Hence, I keep the keys on a tall table well out of reach (at least I like to believe they are out of reach). Glad you enjoyed the weekend, you are my “be more flexible” role model!
That has happened to me! With my keys, my phone, my wallet… Actually, while I was reading, I thought; now where is my spare car key…oh, that’s right…it was bent in half when my wallet (where I kept it) went flying off the hood of my car (where I’d set it after buying ice cream cones)on I-90 outside of Bozeman about a month ago…so, yah…I hear ya!
Hoo, boy! I bet this is the sort of thing that gives Margot’s dad, Andy Cline, a big fat headache. (Solidarity, Andy! I get migraines, too. They’re horrid.)
My dad would have been prostrate, lying face-down in the oil spot on the garage floor, not from stress but from grief. He loved his car more than his kids. Dad’s priorities were pretty screwed up. Thankfully, Andy’s got his head on straight. He’s a great dad.
Seriously, though, I’m sure the keys will materialize well before serious ski weather sets in. Did the keys maybe get planted in the boulevard garden to see if they’ll grow a new Subaru? (Wouldn’t THAT be cool?!) Pumpkin and zucchini leaves have been known to hide entire civilizations . . .
Good luck!
Susan 🙂
Missing nuggs this morning!
And missing Montana and you girls. This time last year…dreamy memories.
xo
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