Breaking and Entering

I locked myself out of my own home today. This has probably happened to me at least 22 times in my life. On this occasion I had reached my destination before I realized, not only had I left my keys on the couch, but my purse (and all its crucial contents) as well. I agonized for a moment, as we all do, with a few profanities and a shrug of the shoulders. Eh, well, I have gotten used to this sort of thing as a regular occurrence in my daily life- I tend to move too quickly, which causes me to gloss over the finer details (like ya know, KEYS and DRIVERS LICENSES). Anyway, I shook it off and headed back to the homestead. I also had the welfare of my brother/roommate's dog to think of. My brother had left for Chicago early that morning, and I was put in charge of keeping our beloved pooch thriving and happy, hence being locked out for the weekend was really not an option.

When I arrived, I performed the classic pipe-dream; I hoped the backdoor was open. It wasn't. I HAD remembered to lock it before leaving- it's wonderful how my vigilant/responsible impulses come and go that way! But, as I mentioned before, I have been locked out a lot in my life. I have become an expert at looking for passive entries. I meandered to the side yard and spotted our living room window- bingo! It looked hopeful. I trudged through the wet (it was raining-of course) shrubbery and groped the window ledge for confirmation that it was, in fact, unlocked. It was, and after wrestling with it for a good two and a half minutes it flew up (the house is somewhat old- so the windows open- but they whine about it). Once the window gave in, it was a cake walk. I used the hose hook as leverage and lumbered into our living room. Granted, it wasn't my most flattering/graceful moment, but I still felt proud of my problem solving abilities. Meanwhile, our dog, Mick, was losing his shit at the sight of me. Not only was he simply happy to see me, but I kind of felt that he was also amused at the show he just got free admission to. I crawled in like a clumsy, spider monkey and landed with an awkward thud against the hardwood floors.

The whole experience just reminded me of childhood- which is perhaps, why I felt no real stress about it.   My brother's were the keeper of the keys in our house. Unfortunately, my brother's are just (if not slightly more) forgetful than I am. Obviously, I spent some time on our front porch, waiting. Sometimes, as a child, I felt like a bulk of my time was spent waiting. Waiting for someone to pick me up, waiting for someone to come home (occasionally- with the key), waiting for a call, waiting for an acceptance letter, waiting to leave, waiting to go, etc. As an adult, I love that I can take charge. I almost never have to wait. I can take action instead- and it usually works! Even if I had not been able to bust through that window, I could have driven to my boyfriend's workplace and ask him for the copy I gave him- ta da! Entry! Open Sesame!