That’s what I thought yesterday morning about 10:30 am when I was standing outside my locked Jeep in the Target parking lot, just realizing that my keys weren’t in my purse.  That’s when I had the following internal dialogue:

Oh crap!  I don’t have my keys.  Okay, don’t panic, check the purse again.  Nope, not there.  Maybe in the basket of the stroller with the bags.  Nope, not there.  Okay, can I see them on the front seats?  No.  Oh Crap!  Okay, still don’t panic.  Maybe you left them inside at the returns desk.  Yah, maybe that’s where they are.  I’ll go inside and check.

Wait.  It’s already 10:30.  OH crap!  I am supposed to be at Karen’s to drop off the twins so I can get my eyes checked.  My appointment’s at 11:00.  There’s no way I’m going to make it now! Oh CRAP!

So I called Karen, who very kindly called the eye doctor to cancel for me while I went inside to check at the returns desk.  They didn’t have them, but the lady thought she’d seen them in my hand.  I didn’t remember that, but if it was true, that meant they were probably in the store somewhere.   So I backtracked my trip through the store (think Billy from the Family Circus), called Eric to see if he could come unlock the Jeep for me, and began feverishly praying that my keys would turn up.

Thankfully, I had lots of distractions from my worries.  Back in the store, I saw a neighbor who was very willing to help if needed (she even came over later to make sure we’d gotten home!).  While I was talking to her, Karen called back, and then Eric rang in.  So he very kindly left work to rescue me.  And I was stuck at Target until he arrived.  I bought Father’s Day cards.  And I chatted with a friend from church whose 2 year old son had locked himself in the car a few days ago.  They ended up having two sheriffs come to help because a neighbor called the police before checking to see if they needed the police called (they really didn’t), but it made for a good story and the 2-year-old got to sit in the police cruiser which he thought was totally cool.

Finally, I was down to sitting in the Starbucks cafe watching out the window until Eric arrived and unlocked the Jeep.  Sure enough, there were my keys.  It seems that I had them in my hand when I got out of the car.  But when I got to the back of the car, the stroller I needed was buried beneath the other stroller.  So, apparently, I threw down my keys to pull out strollers.  And never picked them back up.  Oops!

Anyway, it made for an adventure to blog about (which I rarely have!) and all turned out well.  And I got Father’s Day cards.  The babies did great (even though they were both poopy when I got home…the diaper bag was locked in the Jeep, too) and both took a nap.  And I still have my keys.  Thank you, Jesus!  Now I just have to reschedule my eye appointment and it will be like nothing ever happened! 

Happy Friday!