I Almost Peed My Pants, But I Didn't

The only other time I've locked my keys in my car is when I was at an Illinois State Trooper's house. Said Trooper was able to get into my car and there was much rejoicing. In case you haven't caught on by now, tonight makes the second time in my life when I've locked my keys in my car. This time, I was an hour away from home, and Chase was (and still is) in New Orleans with some college students on their spring break mission trip.

This story actually goes back to last Tuesday when I told my friend Bethany that I'd be around this week while Chase was gone since I had to work. She invited me to come to a missions fair at a church in Harrisburg. I said sure!

When I told Chase about how I was going to meet Bethany and her husband Matt at the missions fair, he said, "Good! You can represent BCM!" I had no idea what this thing even was and I was going to represent BCM? Okay.

Flash forward to last night. After work I stopped by the BCM building to pick up some CDs that had pictures of international ministry stuff on them, and I got a couple t-shirts, some bookmarks with BCM info on them, a display board, and some fliers and brochures about upcoming collegiate conferences. I stayed up making a slideshow on the lappy to bring for the BCM "booth." (The slideshow was super easy to make in iPhoto; it just took a while to get usable pictures off of the four CDs I had.)

I left for work this morning a little after 9:00 with the car loaded up with stuff for this booth for this fair that I didn't really know anything about other than two of my friends would be there. I didn't even know where the church was, but a lady I work with lives in Harrisburg so I figured she'd be able to tell me. She didn't really know, so we looked it up in the phonebook and checked Google Maps. I printed off directions from work since I was leaving from work to go to the fair.

Google had some streets that I needed to drive down labeled as numbers when those streets weren't labeled at all when I got to them! So, I was driving around this town I've never really been to before looking for a church. I eventually found it. I called Bethany to say that I was there and to ask which building to go in since the church had three. She didn't answer her phone. A couple parked and got out of their car, so I asked them if they were going to the missisons fair. They said they were, so I asked where to go in. They told me and asked if I needed any help carrying anything. I did (since it took me two trips to get it all into my car), and they helped me.

Now, I was sort of in a hurry since I was running a little late. Not realizing it, I dropped my keys in the car as I was grabbing my purse and computer bag...

The fair was pretty neat, but I didn't really get to see the other booths since I was stationed at one. There was some music and a speaker, then at about 7:45 PM it was time to go.

A pastor from another church and his wife, who I'd met before, offered to help me carry my stuff back to the car. I figured I'd look for my car key while I was inside where it was light.

I checked my purse- not there.
My keychain (which has a jillion keys on it)- not there
Computer bag- not there
Plastic grocery bag- not there
Purse again- still not there
All pockets- not there

I started getting this sense of dread: they had to be in the car.

We decided to walk to the car even though I couldn't find my keys. We thought they'd be there. We didn't see my key. People got flashlights, but we still didn't see my car key. People were checking under the car- the street- the sidewalk- in bushes and leaves- still no key. I emptied my purse and bags out three times in search of this key- still not there. There were probably 10 people in search of my key! Then we thought we'd spotted my key in the back seat! But it turned out to be part of the seatbelt. Right after I'd emptied all of my bags out for the fourth time, someone spotted my key! And there was much rejoicing.

Someone called the police for me to see if they could come and break into my car. They aren't allowed to for insurance purposes or something. So, someone called a towing company to come do it. My friends Matt & Bethany came back in case I needed a ride if they tow guy couldn't get into my car.

When the tow guy showed up after about 45 minutes, he sure had an audience! About five minutes and $30 later, I was in my car and on my way home... with one problem: I wasn't quite sure how to get home from there...

I knew I had to go north to get to the main road and then west. I mean, I found the church by driving around with a general direction in mind, but I didn't know what roads I had been on since Google Maps wasn't detailed enough.

It was dark. It was foggy. I somehow ended up in a cemetery... Yeah, creepy.

I found my way out of that cemetery and to the main road that I needed. An hour later, I was home and about ready to pee my pants (not for being scared, it was because I'd had to go for about two hours at that point). I didn't pee my pants, though. I'd made it in time.

Yes, this is a long post, but it's also been a long day. I left my home at about 9:00 AM and returned at 10:00 PM. I'm going to bed.