I'm Glad I'm Not The Only One Who Found This Funny

Due to the horrid flu that has recently made the rounds through my house, I'm currently short on blogging material. Instead, let me share this incident which occurred a few weeks ago when leaving Rebecca's gymnastics lesson:

It actually started on the way into the lesson. We were running 1 minute late, as usual, and as we ran across the parking lot I casually pointed my key ring toward my unique, gold, 2006 Toyota Sienna and hit the lock button. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the parking lights flare, and I also barely noted to myself the little, black, plastic lock button made a weird clicking sound when I pushed it.

Fast forward an hour. Rebecca and I are back out in the parking lot, gymnastics lesson complete. We arrive at the gold Sienna, and I push the unlock button on my controller. Nothing. I try door handle. Nothing. It's locked.

'Uh oh', I think, 'Maybe I broke the controller, or the battery is dead'. Suddenly, that weird clicking sound the controller made becomes the center of my awareness. I hit the unlock button again. Nothing. I decided I better do it the old-fashioned way, and use the regular key. I stick it in the lock, and try to turn it. Nothing. I try to turn it harder. Still nothing. This is more serious than I thought.

I go around back and try the trunk door. Nothing. I try to use the key on the passenger side door. Nothing. I blindly panic and start randomly pushing buttons on the controller. Nothing. The whole time Rebecca is telling me in a loud, high pitched voice that she is cold and hungry.

I pull out my phone to call Greg. While dialing, Rebecca says 'let me try' and reaches for the keys. I absently hand them to her so she'll be occupied while I try to think of what I'm going to tell Greg. He answers his phone.

Greg: 'Hi Honey.'

Me: 'Hey, um how was your day?'

Greg: 'Fine, what's up?'

Me: 'Where are you?'

Greg: 'Passing the Big Y' (about 1 minute from home, and about 20 minutes from the gym). I notice out of the corner of my eye Rebecca doing something with the keys and the van door. I decide not to worry about it. It's not like she can break a lock that's already broken, right?

Me: 'We're at the Sterling gym. I can't get the van open.'

Greg: 'What do you mean you can't get the van open?'

Me: 'The clicker doesn't do anything when I push the buttons, I think it's broken.'

Greg: 'Did you try the key?'

Me: 'Yes, it didn't work either. It's really broken.'

Greg: 'Oh no. Do this. Go around back, and see if it works on the back door.'

As I'm getting ready to tell him I already tried that, I notice an older lady striding across parking lot yelling in my direction.

Me: 'I'll call you back'. I flip my phone shut quickly and instinctively grab my keys from Rebecca so this crazy lady doesn't see I'm letting my 6 year old attempt to manually turn my key in a non-working lock.

Lady: 'That's my car - your car is over there.' She points toward the center of the parking lot. 'It's wide open'.

Me: Laughing lamely as the light finally dawns in one blazing second. 'Oh - I can't believe I did that!'

Lady: Glares at me, both her kids are staring at us in amazement. 'This is my car.'

Me: Feeling mortified, the only thing I have to add is the inanely lame 'We have the same car.'

Lady: 'Your car is wide open. It's over there.' She's really pissed!

Me: My fight or flight instinct kicks in. While hurriedly fleeing toward my car, I mutter a lame 'Thanks.' I see my van. The automatic side door is wide open thanks to my earlier button pushing frenzy. I try to give Rebecca as short an explanation as possible about what just happened. I glance back over my shoulder - the angry lady is inspecting her lock for damage.

Rebecca and I get in our unlocked van and buckle up. I put my working key in the ignition and start her up. My phone rings - it's Greg.

Me: (Trying to sound cool). 'Hello?'

Greg: 'What happened?'

Me: 'We're in.' Maybe he won't ask for details.

Greg: 'Did you get in through the back door?'

Me: 'Um no.' There's no point in hiding the truth. 'Actually, I was trying to get into the wrong car.'

Greg: Silence.

Me: 'There was another gold Sienna parked close to us. I hung up on you because this lady was yelling at me. It was her van and she was really pissed.'

Greg: Laughing uncontrollably. 'I'm so glad I'm married to you.'

Thanks for understanding and appreciating me honey! I love you! (and I hope I didn't give you the swine flu - how are you feeling?).