Have you ever been asked that age old question … “What would you take with you to a deserted island?” Not sure? Well how about if you were just, lets say….. locked out of the house for the day?
Yep, of all the goofy things I have done, this one takes the cake…. Gavin and I were racing off to school as usual. I had a backpack and a camera in my hand because I wanted to take pictures of the little bouquet of flowers that we picked for Gavin’s teacher. See it’s Teacher Appreciation Week at school.
“Ok honey, smile..."click" …oh that’s cute, let’s take one more….."click"…how sweet. OK, let’s jump in the car……uhhhhh, where are the keys???”
Look at this cute kid. Happy, happy, happy because he didn’t know, yet, that in a few minutes we would have to walk almost a mile to school (yes I know… it could have been 3 miles in the snow) and I was not quite prepared to be seen in public. Let’s just say that I wasn’t wearing all of the necessary undergarments that a modest mommy should be wearing before greeting fellow parents in the office which was exactly where we needed to go since we were definitely going to be late.
Oh, and my footwear? The absolute flippiest flops I own.
So we made it to school and then I strolled back home cause that's all you can do in flip flops. The bigger question plaguing my mind at this point was how was I going to survive for the day? I called Kevin from the school office only to find out that he was out at the valley office and wouldn’t be back in our area until much after I had to walk back up to school and pick up Gav.
The forecast predicted temps over 100! Well, at least I had running water. Then a thought occurred to me, maybe the trailer was unlocked...checked it…..it was. Hallelujah! Wooo hooo!
I looked pretty silly giving myself a high-five but what can I say, silly is as silly does.
We'd just came back from a camping trip over Spring Break so I was sure there were still some food items left in there like chips and salsa or marshmallows. The breakfast of champions right?
What else could I use… hmmmmm
AH HA! This little baby could be a life saver on a day like this.
Got to keep the mind sharp.
Plenty of time for reflection.
Then, I spotted an item that I was happy to be in possession of but the thought of having to use it sent chills down my spine and put a knot in my gut…. GULP!
It was inevitable. None of my neighbors were home and most of my girlfriends live at least a mile or two away. Those who are closer work during the day.
The clocked ticked on and I seemed to manage the morning pretty well. But as afternoon approached, I became uncomfortably aware that I may need to put my little trailer find to use. I seriously began to break out into a sweat and not because of the rising temperature.
Something just kept telling me to check the front door again even though I had done so several times over the course of the morning somehow expecting the result to be different. I knew it wouldn’t be but….ok, I’m desperate.
I gave the knob a jiggle and of course still found it locked. Then I gave it a good jerk to the right and it sprung right open. “WHAT?” I blurted out loud. “How is this possible?”
I went inside and unlocked the backdoor, then headed back out to the front to retest the lock. “SPRINGGG” It popped open again. “Wow!” So as it turns out, my security screen is not so secure, at least not when the bottom lock alone is securing it.
At any rate, I was completely grateful to be back inside the house. First things first, I ran straight down the hall to the first door on the left. As I sat there reflecting on the pure absurdity of the situation, a scripture came to mind.
“All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose” you’ll notice that it doesn’t say that ALL things ARE good. It says they work together for good. I feel quite certain that this was God’s way of showing me that our home is not at all safe with the bottom lock alone, kind of a heads up. Although we live in a great neighborhood and the crime rate is extremely low, we do from time to time have a few unsavory characters roaming the neighborhood soliciting their products, gizmos, windows, tree services, etc…
I feel blessed to know that my slight inconvenience could potentially save our home from a break-in. When we travel, we lock it up like Fort Knox of course but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve flown out of the house to run errands and slammed the door closed relying on the bottom lock for safety.
I don’t anticipate any wrong doers violating our home anytime soon, like I said, our neighborhood is pretty great. But if I choose to believe that all things happen for a reason, it would be unwise of me to ignore this event and chalk it up to nothing more than a good story. Besides, if not divine intervention, I’d have to admit to being a harebrained nitwit so....divine intervention it is… (wink, wink).
