Bits and Pieces

* This past weekend was rough. Both my women's groups were cancelled the two weeks prior and spent way too many evenings home alone. By Friday evening I was emotionally drained. I should have followed through with my original evening plan to visit the pottery studio, but there were no parking places left on the side street and Monroe Avenue is torn up due to construction.

* I had no Saturday plans, but it was a gorgeous autumn day. My sister Rachel agreed to go out with me for a couple hours even though it was her anniversary. We drove out Lake Rd toward Sodus and along the way I felt the need to drive through the orchard. She asked if we were trespassing and I said, "Yes." She said, "Will we get in trouble?" and I answered, "I never have before." I soaked it in and let it heal a little piece of my heart.

* At Beechwood State Park we ran into some friends of mine and I wasn't even surprised to see them there. They were coming out and we were going in. As we trudged toward the lake, I think Rachel wondered where in the world I was taking her, how far we would walk, and how long it would be until we turned around and headed home.

* I zigzagged down country roads coming home and passed a familiar looking fellow along the way. I rolled down the window to say hello and found that it was not my friend keyRandy from the nursing home, but his partner Dan. He suggested stopping by the house, but Rachel was ready to go home. Maybe I'll stop by next time.

* Sunday was church and Sunday school, a visit to our brother Tim, and a ghost birthday party for Number Nine who just turned three.

* Today I was careful to keep track of my car keys, but even so they were not in my pocket when I walked into the chiropractor's office. I didn't notice until I was on my way back to the room. After I was hooked up to the tens unit, he ran outside to see if he could find them. He found in the ignition with the car doors unlocked. I am totally and hopelessly blond.

* The doctor asked what I was doing this evening and I had no plans. At his suggestion, I stopped on the way home for a few pumpkins to carve into Jack O'Lanterns. It would have been a splendid activity this evening, but Hannah was working. Maybe we can do it tomorrow.

A Few Key Thoughts

* I need a second car key on a lanyard around my neck.

* The locksmith now recognizes both me and my car.

* I was not the only one locked out of my car in the Wegman's parking lot between 5:30 and 6 pm this evening. I was not even the only one in my aisle, but my vehicle was not running, and I did not have my family along.

I have managed to lock myself out of my vehicle multiple times and in multiple places in the past few years. I am getting quite proficient this and engage multiple techniques. Tonight I employed the Jacket Switcheroo method. It's quite simple. I got out of the car wearing my sweatshirt and then, because it was the fancy Pittsford Wegmans, decided to trade it for my jean jacket. I took the sweatshirt off, tossed it in the car, and grabbed my jacket. Then I went in the store for coffee creamer and came out with no keys in my pocket. Voila! Very simple and effective.

It did not take me long to realize my blunder. There were no keys in my pockets when I arrived at my car. I peered into the vehicle, and just as I had imagined, my keys were waiting on my seat, which is better than lost on the ground. At least they were safe. There is something for which to be thankful. I considered our Triple A membership that I had forgotten last time, and checked my wallet. No card. I threw out a call to James. No answer. And so I did exactly what I had just done less than two weeks ago. I called the locksmith and waited. He smiled when he saw me, probably because I was smiling and looking sheepish. I told him I was just trying to keep him employed... I'd say we're on a first name basis, but truthfully, I don't even know his name. He's the one who suggested the lanyard. Ha ha!

This thing of being locked out of my vehicle is getting expensive, but James has now updated my Triple A membership and they will soon be mailing me a new card. Maybe I won't lock myself out again (yeah, right..), but Triple A is always good to have.

Pictures from yesterday's visit to Letchworth State Park with Rachel.

Car Keys Gone AWOL

It was one of those mornings where I seemed to be doing all the usual things, but the clock was ticking faster than normal. I finally hurried out the door with my bags and breakfast only to find my car doors locked and my car key AWOL...

I used the code to open the garage door since the house was locked and the garage was my only way back inside. "My keys must be in my jacket pocket," I thought. I unfolded the stairs to my attic bedroom, climbed up, and looked around for my jacket. It wasn't there. I'd left it on the hook at the bottom of the stairs. Down I went. I folded the steps up again, put my jacket on, and reached into the pocket. My keys weren't there.

I turned a circle or two, checked all my pockets again, and racked my brain. My jeans! I'd changed my jeans! I unfolded the steps once again, climbed up, and found yesterday's trousers. There was the key. Down the steps I went, folding them up as I reached the bottom, and headed out the door to  my waiting bags, breakfast, and still locked car.

I left home later than ever before, drove a tad faster than usual, and arrived at work with a minute to spare because our time clock runs slow. I think it's to keep us from clocking out too soon at the end of the day.

And then... my little friend Parker deposited a portion of his Neocate filled stomach (he has allergies) onto my fresh clean shirt. I was plastered. Ha ha! But I still love him.

(I have no pictures of cars, keys, stairs, or work babies, so you get a few more pictures from my dance through the sunflowers.)

The Many Adventures of Martha

I am still collecting missing key stories...

Monday evening I went to my new support group meeting. I stayed and talked for a while afterward so my run into Wegmans afterward was hurried. I was a bit distracted by the fellow who opened his car door just as I was pulling into the spot next to him, but it was an amused distraction, not an irritation. That, coupled with the fact that I'd already been in Walmart and not found what I was looking for, left me a little absent-minded.

I found the items needed, headed to the cashier, and then out the door. As I went I reached for my keys. They should have been in my pocket, but they weren't. I went back to the register, but no, they weren't there either. I prayed I hadn't locked them in the car. ... Again.

My prayers were answered when the car door opened easily, but my relief was squelched by the realization that I'd not only forgotten my keys, but I'd also left the car running. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be worried. I know I was embarrassed at the time, but it all seems terribly funny now.

On Tuesday evening I picked up my latest bowls from the pottery studio. I am pleased with the results this time. They're getting better.

Out To Lunch (in a manner of speaking)

Lunch hour often finds me sitting out in my car. Sometimes I eat my lunch, sometimes I take a nap, and sometimes I make a phone call. This afternoon I listened to the radio and called my favorite Bethany. I was still talking to her when I got out of the vehicle and headed back inside. Perhaps that is why I didn't hear the chime...

On my way back out to the car after work, I realized my car keys were not in my pockets. I said a quick prayer that I hadn't locked them inside and breathed a sigh of relief when I found the door unlocked. The keys were in the ignition... and the battery was dead. It didn't even click when I turned the key. The only thing still working was the clock on my dashboard.

I headed back inside to see if anyone had a set of jumper cables. My coworkers weren't sure. One thought he might, but he couldn't leave the building until the kids were in ratio. Out of desperation I asked one of the dads picking up his daughter. He thought he might, but he didn't. A mom said she had one, but she didn't know how to use it. Between the two parents, one with the cables and one with the know how, we got my car running again and I am blessed. Good thing I don't work at night in some secluded location. I'd have had to call Triple A.
:0)

Humility

What does it mean to be truly humble? As I searched my pockets, purse, and van for my car keys the other day; as I wandered in and out of the dining hall and camp store probably looking somewhat bewildered; as I watched others search the ground around my vehicle and answered yet another question about where I had last seen the illusive item; I began to worry that I might actually find them buried in my purse or hidden somewhere inside my van. I was still checking my pants pockets when I arrived home and hoping I wouldn't find them. I already felt foolish enough for losing the keys, I certainly didn't want to look like a complete idiot for having had them the entire time. I know the feelings are normal, no one wants to look stupid, but really that is my own sense of pride showing through again. I have to feel a little bit bad for the woman who found them in the bottom of her purse because I know how I would feel if I had returned home to find a strange set of keys in my possession. I would have felt really low, especially if I knew the other party had to go on home without their car. In spite of that I don't feel at all that she is foolish or stupid. Somehow, unknown to either her or myself, she ended up with my keys. Somewhere in all of this God had a plan. Although we may never know that plan or what circumstances were changed by a set of missing keys, He does. I think that's pretty cool.

"For My thoughts [are] not your thoughts, Nor [are] your ways My ways," says the LORD.

Isaiah 55:8

A Few Key Thoughts

It has been a busy weekend. On Saturday we drove down to Penn Yan for a family picnic on Keuka Lake. It's always great to reconnect with cousins and I look forward to this gathering every year. Of course Uncle Chuck's crazy bicycles came out as well as stilts and a bean bag toss game. It was a nice day and all our children were there which is pretty amazing.

Yesterday morning Jim left to make his way back to Minnesota. He was headed for Chicago yesterday and will arrive in St Paul sometime this afternoon. We had him home for seven weeks and would have been happy to keep him but he has others wondering when he is coming home on the other end.

Ahh... the key thoughts...

After church yesterday I took Ben, Hannah, and a friend to Oswego for a week at Bible camp. It is a little over an hour's drive east of here. After finally getting them registered in the dining hall and going into the camp store to take care of business there, we headed back to the van to drop their things off at the cabins. That is when I discovered my car keys were not in my jeans pockets. I returned to the store to see if I had left them on the counter. Nope. We checked the van; not in my purse, not under the seat, not between the seats... I went back to the dining hall. They were not on the floor, not on the tables, not behind the curtain with the nurse. They were not in the Ladies' room. No one had seen them and they were nowhere to be seen. Back to the van... Ask the kids to check their pockets again... check the ground... ask more people... go back to the camp store... check the van again... dump my purse... check my pockets... I was really beginning to feel altogether foolish. Each person I asked, asked me the same the same questions, "Where have you been?" "Did you leave them (here or there)?" I hadn't been anywhere since I'd last had them and had retraced my steps so many times that I couldn't even remember where I had been anymore. I must have walked back and forth for almost an hour, talked to James on the phone, had a dozen people looking, and still no keys. James had prayed with me on the phone and I didn't feel any sense of panic, but still my keys were not appearing and we had no extra set at home, just a single key on a rather big key chain which was now gone. "What did they look like?" (Another question...) Large black key with the remote lock control, a green Coleman lantern key chain and some small stars. They had vanished. Some friends from from our old church offered to take me home and I decided I should take them up on the offer. The camp leaders promised to call when the keys showed up,... if they showed up.

By the time I reached home we had missed the evening church service. James and I decided to go for a walk in the orchard. We walked a long way and had a nice time together. Back home a little after 9 pm the phone rang. It was Sherri (from camp) on the other end. My keys had been located. As I had begun to suspect while wandering the grounds between my van and the dining hall, they were no longer at camp in Oswego but in the bottom of a woman's purse in Syracuse. She has a similar key chain but had no idea how she ended up with the keys. Not only that but she has no plans to return to camp this week and is leaving for the mission field today. (All this is too funny!)

God is good and He knows all things. My keys will go back to camp with the camp director, Sherri's husband, Clay, (who happens to live in Syracuse and is home packing to move) and sometime this week I will get my van back. In the meantime, although I have no children in my home and Jim is gone back to Minnesota, I will be unable to go anywhere without help from a friend or family member. That's okay. I have plenty to do here at home and trust that God has a plan in this whole experience. I know that He is working in my life, teaching me, stretching me, and growing me. A few years ago I would have been beside myself at losing the keys and angry that I am trapped here at home, but He is teaching me to trust that He has a plan and purpose higher than my own. I went to sleep knowing my keys will be returned and not having to worry about what to do. I have to smile a little bit though because God wasn't finished stretching me when I went to bed last night. I woke up to a terrible thunder storm with pouring rain. Almost all storms travel east and the windows in my van were rolled all the way down... I'm hoping someone really threw a cover over it like they said they would. Oh well, nothing I can do about it from here...