Blown light bulb

Whoo hoo! Girls trip. My pseudo sister lives about 2 hours and 15 minutes away from me. My bestie (her mom) and I had plans to drive up and spend the day with her. Her dad was already in this town for a meeting.

I’m gonna drive. Which stresses me a little. Several years ago, I had a panic attack driving in a snow storm. And this has kinda morphed into driving in larger cities. The best way to get over this is to just drive. Right?

We had a great day. Even though I missed one of our exits and went 30 minutes out of our way. And a street sweeper tried to run me over. We ate brunch, shopped, ate dinner.

And then….

On the way home is where it all went wrong.

I have a key wad. All of my life I’ve been told not to drive with a key wad hanging off your ignition; it will damage it. My car key slips on and off this key wad. I always put my key wad in the cup holder of the console. No keys. They are not in the driver side door pocket. Or the passenger side door pocket.

They are not in the cubby holes where I keep c.d.s and sunglasses, ink pens and lotion. I dump my purse in the driveway, nope. They aren’t in either glove box. Yes, I have 2 glove boxes. Why? I don’t know.

“You left them hanging in the door.”

This is not out of the realm of possibilities. “No, I don’t think so. I remember double checking that the door was locked and shutting the screen door.”

When we stopped to buy gas, we check under all the seats. Just incase when I went to throw them in the cup holder, I missed and they slid under the seat. Nope.

As I shut my car off at the gas pump, it acted funny. I brushed it off, pumped my gas. The stress of finding my house keys was paramount. ‘What did I do with them?’ I dumped my purse out a second time in the backseat of my car. The answer was still no. No keys.

We get back in the car. The thoughts racing through my mind were; I’ve laid them on top of the car and lost them between my house and my besties. Or someone found them in the driveway and cleaned my house out; taking Chico with them. This rabbit hole is deep. A basement key is part of the wad and my basement was wiped out as well. Told you that rabbit hole was deep.

As I turn the key in the ignition, my car won’t start. Holy sheet. I’m in a town where I know no one. My bestie is with me. Her husband and daughter are miles behind us. Crap!

“You didn’t pump diesel did you?”

For what ever reason, this truck stop had a diesel hose on each pump. “Did I? Sweet Lord I pray not.” I raise up in my seat looking at the pump. “Did I? Sheet!”

I try to start the car again, it’s almost like fuel isn’t getting to the motor. I race the engine a few times. Then decided it’s best to move from the pumps. We circle to the parking area. The car seems to be doing okay. So we chance continuing the drive home, praying all the way. “Dear God please let us make it home.”

On the drive, it hits me. “My house keys are in the snack bag. That’s why I think I put them in my purse.” My bestie can’t reach the snack bag. It is all the way in the back of the car. I am NOT about to stop. So for another hour and 15 minutes; I keep telling myself, ‘your keys are in the snack bag’. For those of you reading that might not know about a snack bag; so that we wouldn’t overspend on junk food, I packed a bag with mostly chips and pretzels. I took a cooler because we took fish for dinner and put some drinks in it.

Once we made it to my besties house, YES. The keys were indeed in the snack bag.

I wasn’t about to shut my car off, what if it doesn’t start back?

When I made it home, I tried restarting my car a couple times and it started right back.

God guided us home.

This morning as I was getting dressed for our fun day; a light bulb blew in my closet.