Locked in for the Rescue

I've been having bad luck with locks recently.

Last Friday after dealing with a scary phone call, getting stuck on the I-15 Southbound for three hours due to a fatal car accident involving eight cars, "winning" in a tangle with another vehicle who thought she could share lanes with my 15 passenger van (first ever wreck with a moving vehicle), arriving at a 3:30pm lunch date at 5:30pm, discovering that none of my friends were home, watching a movie in a theatre alone (for the first time ever), I discovered that I had locked my keys in my car. In the ignition. And Provo cops can't help jimmy locks. And I have no clue what to do with a coat hanger besides unwind it and poke at my windows. And locksmiths are expensive!

I gave up trying to open it myself at 1:30am and passed out on Holly's couch.

In Holly's pjs.

With Holly's pillow.

Thanks Holly.

Saturday morning saw me up bright and early poking at my windows again as snowflakes chased one another and made toes cold. I was totally deflated by the time I broke down and called a friend for help. I was close to tears of frustration and self pity by the time he arrived. I was completely and utterly grateful when he was able to poke at my windows (in places I had deemed inopperable) and pop the lock, rescuing me from a fate of making faces at myself on the wrong side of the car door window, fashioning tiny snowmen all over my car, and writing messages to passersby in the snow on my windshield via the long coat hanger.

Thank you Josh!

He stuck the coat hanger under my van somewhere just in case I need it again. I just might. I tend to get locked out, stranded with a dead battery due to my inability to shut off the lights, or stuck with tire problems at least once every 3 months.

I tend to require rescuing at least once every 3 months.

At least.

This time it was less than a week later.

Last night I managed to successfully infiltrate the Murray Symphony 2nd Violin section (my first choice, but I like 1st Violins too) and get started on Handel's Messiah in time for the Christmas concert.

Ha ha! Victory is mine!

After a really good rehearsal (during which I played maybe 1/4 of the content because I've never read through the whole part before -- what I did play, was played with gusto!) I got a bit lost trying to find hall that led to the door that led to the parking lot, where sat my van. I got lost because someone had pulled a big metal grate over the hall intrance; the kind that they pull down over store fronts in malls after store hours to keep theaving theaves out at night. Considering my options in a huge school, wherein I was quicking becoming lost, I decided that the best choice would be to find a door that led outside and simply walk the parameter of the enormous school until I could figure out where I had left the van.

So, I found a door that led outside and walked through it.

After a few moments of walking around in the cold I realized that I had walked into a courtyard situated inside the school.

With no outlet.

And all of the doors were locked for the night.

And no one was left in the building to hear me pound on the doors.

So, I laughed at my reflection in the wrong side of the glass door and decided that hobo-ing it outside in a courtyard all night was not an option.

After calling home and letting my family laugh at me I dialed 911 (for the second time ever, the first time was after that car tried to share my lane and discovered that she couldn't). After attempting to explain to the opperator that I was locked inside a courtyard, I spoke with a nice police man who called another nice police man who opened a door. Just walked up and opened it. Pushed the dealy-bob and liberated me.

Thanks nice police man!

Sometimes we get stuck in less-than-ideal situations due to our own shortcomings (or forgetfulness) and need some help.

Sometimes we get stuck in impossible situations due to ignorance (or inattentiveness) and require some serious rescuing.

Sometimes.

One thing I've learned again and again is that when these less-than-ideal or impossible situations arise, the only thing to do is to laugh at my reflection and ask for help.