The Rest of the (Key) Story

 Early this week I told you a long sad story about locking my keys in the car trunk then within a few minutes losing the newly cut expensive key.  Well...this is the rest of the story!

Yesterday I went to the YMCA to swim.  I parked the car, got my stuff out, same as on Monday, and locked the door. Only...the door would not lock but just kept beeping. R-r-r!  Not again.  Well, I really wanted to get that swim in and kept vacillating between going swimming and trying again to find the lost key in the car.  In a minute or so I said to myself...I am here. I need to swim.  So I turned around one more time and using the (found!) fob, clicked the locked button.  There was not locking sound but I hoped for the best and continued on into the facility to swim.

After only three laps I. could not in good conscience keep swimming. I  knew I had to get out of the pool and take the car to Toyota who had told me on Monday (when I called to ask if the girl who brought the new key had seen where I had stashed it--she had not) and they would find it for me since I probably dropped it between the seats and just could not reach it myself.  So, I got out of the pool, dressed quickly without even a shower and shampoo (bad idea because when it dried, my hair was like a frightful straw man...!) and headed down the corridor to the front of the Y.  

All of a sudden I heard: "Miss Patricia!"   I looked behind me and there, sitting on the bench, was my dear swimming friend R and her wonderful DIL, M!  It was so wonderful to see them.  They made room for me to sit down and visit.  It was SO GOOD to visit with them.  After a while we decided I needed to get on the road with the car problem.  M, that fabulous girl, said that she would come look for the key in the car so I would not have to take it to Toyota.  I was reluctant because she would have to lie on the ground to reach into the car to search.  I did not want to make her so that.  She is so kind she refused to be put off, so R and M were going to drive around the Y to meet me at my car, and I walked to the front of the facility.

Almost at the front I ran into B, one of the nicest YMCA staff ever.  We had hit it off when I first came many months ago and she asked how I was doing.  You know me, never just say "Fine" and walk on, I launched into a (somewhat) shortened version of the keys-locked-in-the-trunk debacle.  Her ears perked up and she said, "Lost key?  On Monday? Meet me out front."

When I got to the front desk, there she was holding out a key that looked exactly like the key I had lost!  I went out to try it in the lock.  It WAS THE KEY!!  I had just opened the door when R and M came around and stopped behind the car. M did not have to lie on the nasty ground after all!  I am so glad. I am also so grateful for her kindness and willingness to help me.

So...I must say that I am so grateful to Heavenly Father, and so many others, for watching over me and helping to clean up my messes.

When I got home I showed the key that I had hung on my key lanyard to Dear One.  He reached out his had for it after inquiring where I had found it.  He thought leaving it on my lanyard would mean I now had TWO keys to lock in the trunk, throw in the dumpster, toss into the trash if I went to a fast food place (which I am committed to NOT DO any time in the foreseeable future!), or some other irresponsible thing.  He is such a sweet kind man that I did hand him the key.  

That key now has a new home.  I do not know where that new home is.  I hope Dear One is not subject to key disasters, too! Nor losses of memory cells...

Anyway, that is the rest of the story.  All is well that ends well.  I feel like the problem with locking the car when I arrived at the YMCA was Heavenly Father's way of getting my attention back to the lost key.  He put R and M in exactly the right place for exactly the right amount of time for me to then meet B who would ask just the right question to get me talking about a lost key so I could have it restored to me.  I AM SO GRATEFUL!!