Quite the predicament

"Do you have your wallet?"-- Jon asked me in a skeptical voice.

1 HOUR EARLIER:

It was a normal Tuesday, just like any other Tuesday before. Jack and I were doing our daily activities, when I received an interesting text from Jon- he had forgotten his wallet at home, and was short on gas, so there was a possibility that I'd need meet him to buy gas for the car. Okay, no problem. Moving on. It's now 4:15 in the afternoon- the time of day that every mom out there dreads, you're tired and want a break from the kid(s), it's coming up on dinner time, and you're just waiting for Daddy to come home. Basically from 4-5 pm, I try to kill time. So Jack and I went outside, going thru our garage, to check the mail. Afterwards, I let Jack ride his ride-along truck along the sidewalk, while I talk to Jon on the phone, who is now on his way home from work. I didn't make it to the store that day, so I told Jon that we were going to eat at a pizza buffet. Excited at the prospect of not cooking and stuffing my face full of pizza, I was in a happy mood.

Then Jon arrives home, pulling his car into the garage. We chatted for a few minutes about our day, and then Jon goes to go inside. And this is where my mood shifted. "You know this door is locked right?," he asks me. "No, in fact, I didn't know that actually, because I didn't lock it, and that's really quite terrible because I don't have a key for that door," I think to myself. Jon notices the keys in my hand and thinks I'm playing a joke. "These are the keys for the front and back doors, and they're both deadbolted from the inside!," I say in a slightly raised voice. In a vain attempt to hope we can miraculously will the deadbolts to slide unlocked, we try the key on the front and back doors......stubbornly they refuse to open. Hmmmm, thinking, thinking, I guess we'll just call a locksmith. I call the locksmith and am told to wait for the "technician" to call me back "shortly." I'm not sure what "shortly" means exactly, but in a situation like this, I'd appreciate a definition. It turns out it means 25 minutes. The guy calls to tell me he should be here in 30-35 minutes. I get off the phone with him, and turn to Jon and suggest we kill time by going out to eat dinner. He agrees with me, and then skeptically, yet with a hint of hope in his eye asks, "Do you have your wallet?" Sadly, and honestly at this point, a little comically I answer, "No, it's inside." Now we start laughing. I'm mad at him that he left his wallet at home, and he's mad at me I didn't grab mine before checking the mail. Jack, meanwhile, continues to ride his truck up and down the driveway, happily oblivious to our predicament.

We decide to let Jack drive his truck around the block a few times to kill the half hour long wait, which was effective until it got dark. Now we are back in the garage, huddled in the car, waiting... Did I mention that the light switch for our overhead garage light is located INside the laundry room and as the sun is setting we must resort to shutting and opening the garage door to get some light?! There's nothing like that to make you feel ghetto. Finally, the "technician" arrives and tells us "No problem, I'll get you in your house, and won't even damage your door." Thank-you, hallelujah! 10 minutes, and 5 openings/closings of the garage door to get light later, he is still trying to pick the lock and get us inside. Now I'm officially worried. It's completely dark outside, starting to get cold, we have NO money, Jack's things (like diapers) are inside, and the expert technician is unable to pick the lock. He alerts us that the lock is broken, he can't possibly pick it, and he'll have to break the knob. Luckily it's an old knob that we were planning on replacing, so we say, "just do it!" 2 minutes later, and we're in our house! And just think, it only cost us $74 including tax.

Honestly, the situation was rather humorous. My main frustration stemmed from the fact that our vacuum cleaner broke, the water heater died, and our year and a half old tv needed repairs........ all in the past 2 weeks! And I had to pay a guy to break my door knob, how irritating. Could this not have waited until after Christmas?