Broken Button

One thing I’m learning about myself is that I don’t “handle” crisis situations very well.
Yesterday was a PRIME example of this flaw. However because I’m a details kind of girl I’m going to drag the story out and tell you every detail and make it really long (that was a disclaimer for Jeff)
Around 10:30 the kids and I went to Wal-Mart to buy groceries for the week. I made up a menu for the entire week writing down every possible thing I would need at the store (I’m typically NOT a menu planner). To fight the urge of buying foods that I was craving the kids and I had a big breakfast right before we left (I’ve learned it’s not good to send pregnant me to the store while hungry). My belly was FULL to combat my plan of sticking strictly to my list. After the “hundred year long” list as Ty would put it we headed out the car. I distinctly remember walking to the car unlocking it so Ty could get buckled, then I popped the trunk and put my keys back into my purse. Then I unloaded all the to groceries, except the bread that I put in front so it wouldn’t get smashed and the box of diapers because they were too big. I shut the trunk, put the cart up, then buckled Ava into her car seat. As I was searching for my purse I realized that I had put my purse in the trunk. Inside my purse was my keys, my money, and my cell phone. I searched for a button to pop the trunk and low and behold it does NOT work. I now realize what I had done I am stranded in Wal-Mart. My brain shuts down and all I can think to do is pray and ask God for some guidance on what I should do next. (Just so I don’t look like a complete fool you should know that Jeff was in San Antonio and my sister Christina and her husband were in Austin, and my closed friend Angell was in Florida and those are the phone numbers I knew). I see a sweet looking family get into their car across from me so I jump out of the car and play damsel in distress, popping open the hood so they would think I had car trouble. It worked! They came over and asked I if I need a jump. I explained my situation and for the next 20-30 minutes they attempted to help me. I used their cell phone to call Jeff (who was in the middle of a show and did not answer) and then I called my dad…the 2 people I always call when I need help, and neither one of them were available. I let the sweet family off the hook and told them they could go, the husband told me to go inside and ask for a phone book for a locksmith (seriously why didn’t I think of that?) My plan was to wait and walk around the shops for 8-10 hours until Jeff got back and came looking for me (I left him a message that I would be in the Wal-Mart parking lot, he had the extra keys to the car). The kids and I go back into Wal-Mart. Ava is asleep so I line a shopping basket with Ty’s jacket and she then sleeps for the next 1.5 hours. The line at the customer service desk was really long so I went to the back of the store but the didn’t have one. So in my plan to kill time and wait until Jeff gets back into town, Ty and I cruise the toy aisle for the next hour. I finally swallow my pride to ask for help, I had to ask for a phone book and the use of a phone, and for some reason I was scarred? Seriously having to work out the crisis myself had me in a funk. As I’m flipping through the pages in the phone book I remember that we have AAA roadside service. The light bulb finally went off! I finally called and they said a locksmith would be there in less then 45 minutes. Here is my plug for AAA: I’m a bit of a cheepo when it comes to spending money and I would have rather waited another 4-5 hours for Jeff then a pay around $150 dollars for a locksmith, but because we have AAA it would have been free, except that I locked them in the trunk so they had to call a different kind of locksmith but it was only going to be $30. While I’m making all these phone calls, Ava wakes up and Ty falls asleep on floor at my feet. We do a little switcheroo and I carry Ty to the car. The whole day I’ve had NO sense of time without my phone. But it’s getting cold outside while we wait in the car and our bellies are hungry. Thank goodness I put the bread into the front seat, the kids almost scarf it down the whole loaf. Oh and the box of diapers came in handy for changing Ava. As we wait it is getting colder and all the bread is making us thirsty. It feels like we have been waiting for more then 45 minutes. We dig around the seats and pockets of the car and find 85 cents. We layer up again to face the cold walk into the store. Earlier I wrote down the 1-800 number on my hand so I use the pay phone to call AAA again and the 85 cents to buy the kids a coke. Somehow the pop a lock guy knew it was us and started honking his horn. Finally what was supposed to be only 45 minutes turned into 2 hours. Thankful to be on the road soon again, we run to car. However what I thought was going to be 5 minutes to pop the lock turned into ANOTHER 1.5 hours. The guy tried 200 “try out” keys on my trunk, which none worked. He then called for “back up” and had to take the lock off of the glove compartment, take it apart and use the settling to make a new key. It was all a very long process. Did I mention it was very cold yesterday? I quite being polite 5 minutes into the operations and headed to the car and just watched him through the window.
When they finally popped the trunk I grabbed the keys and started up the car to warm up my purplish babies. I then called Jeff and the first thing he asked me was “did you call AAA?” Seriously why didn’t I think of this HOURS ago? Like I said I’m BAD in these kind of situations. All I wanted to do was cry. The trip to Wal-mart that started around 10:30 am lasted until 7:30pm. It was a LONG day. The biggest upset was all the groceries I had to throw out because they weren’t kept refrigerated.
However I did get to keep the key they made. So should this situation ever happen again all I have to do is reach into the side pocket and pull out the key to pop the trunk.
The kids did great all day and Ty got a kick out of cruising the toy aisle spending his sweet time investigating all the toys. He did ask me, “Mom when we were walking out of the store why didn’t you think about what you were going to do and NOT put your purse in the trunk?”
Let's hope nothing serious ever happens when I'm in charge and alone.