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May 19, 2008
Do YOU have a key buddy?
I was very recently reminded of this very important question...and found my own answer lacking.
First, what's a key buddy, you ask? That's easy. It's the person or persons in your life that have your spare house keys in event of a lock out scenario. It's not bad to also have a car key buddy, but you can probably have a spare car key inside your house and be just fine. Unless you're me and you're out grocery shopping with a tired Jack and you're tired, too.* But I digress...
It's important to have a key buddy. Being locked out of your house on a rainy day isn't something you want to do. Plus, you keep the phone books with the numbers of locksmiths inside the house. In fact, it's important to have two key buddies, I think. Here's why:
Usually, Terry is my key buddy. 99% of the time, it's fine, as we rarely travel far from home apart. But this week, Terry's a-conferencing in Washington, DC and I'm home with the wee tot on my own. We all went to the train station together, and Terry locked the doors while I strapped the kiddo in. He asked "Are you sure you have house keys?" and I said "Yes," because I had keys before I picked Jack up. I must have dropped them. Because when Jack and I got home, I no longer had house keys.
I tried calling Terry. But it was 5 minutes after his train left and he wasn't answering. I looked around and thought about the house. We always lock the deadbolts, so credit carding in wasn't going to work. The front window is the only one on the first floor and it was definitely latched shut. Our bedroom window was open, but on the second floor. I'd need a ladder. A tall ladder. The upstairs neighbors had a normal height ladder, if I remembered correctly. They had workmen at the house who had another typical 6-ft ladder on their truck. I needed more. Thankfully, I remembered Kris talking about a cool ladder she had for painting the high ceilings in her house. I gave her a call. We weighed the options - ladder and possible cutting through screen window vs. locksmith. She put the ladder, a few tools, and a phone book in her car and came over. We'd try the ladder first, and then resort to a locksmith if that didn't work out. The ladder was the perfect height to reach the window and the screen was easily lifted from the outside, so there was no need for property damage. I scurried in (which was apparently funny, because the screen closed on my feet and I got stuck for a minute) and grabbed my keys and the spare keys on the way back out. Kris is my new backup key buddy.
Make sure you have a key buddy! Or two even!
*I closed my keys in the trunk one day while shopping in S. Philly. Actually, it was my whole purse, so my cell phone too. I assessed the situation and realized that my back seats fold down, so I could get into the trunk, because the car was already open. It was stressful, but ultimately easier to fix than this weekend's fiasco.
Posted by Janice Ryan at May 19, 2008 9:14 PM
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