Let. Me. In!!

Last Thursday at 6:45 a.m. I groggily awoke to my alarm blaring and Maggie Minx whining. Time for the first of at least six walks of the day. For the dog – not the alarm clock. And most certainly not for me.

So I stumbled out of bed, walked to the front door and, in the dark, sleepily donned winter boots, heavy coat, gloves, scarf and ear muffs. I clipped the leash onto Maggie’s vest and out the front door we went.

Because I feel like I’m a well-prepared Girl Scout, I always have a flashlight and a fresh doggie poo bag at the ready in my right pocket. My cell phone is always in my left pocket in case I witness Armageddon outside my front door and must dial 911 – or I fall and need to call paramedics to check for broken bones and help me up.

Hey, it’s better to be prepared than not – am I right?!

It was a bitter 19 degrees out and I was not really thrilled to be walking in the dark. But I’ve thus far not been able to train Maggie Minx to use the commode – so frequent outside walks are a necessary evil.

After about 15 minutes, when Maggie had sniffed sufficiently and I had disposed of the now-used doggie bag in the handy dog poo receptacles provided by this community, we headed for home.

Maggie apparently had had enough of the bitter cold and was all ready for her morning chow – so she jumped up against the door in anticipation of heading inside to the warmth and her morning sustenance.

Only the door wouldn’t open.

I tried several times…and then with a sinking heart, realized that in the dark, I hadn’t moved the lower lock to the “unlock” position.

I don’t carry a spare key in my pocket either. Some Girl Scout I am, huh?

I never worried about locking myself out of our house because we had a keypad on the garage door as well as the front door. Thus, I rarely carried a house key. But at this new place? There isn’t a keypad in sight. Sigh.

At first, I leaned against the door in defeat for a few moments. A tear or two may have slipped out of my eyes, but I can’t tell for sure if it was sadness, frustration – or simply the blowing wind.

After heaving a huge sigh and forcing myself to think clearly for a moment, I realized I had the maintenance guy’s cell phone number in my list of contacts. So I texted him and told him I’d locked myself out and needed his help.

He responded that he was on his way in to work – but wouldn’t arrive until 8 a.m.

It was, at this point, 7:16 a.m. I had – at minimum – 44 minutes to endure the frigid elements.

Maggie wasn’t thrilled, but we turned around and walked for another 10 minutes. I figured moving was better than standing still. On the other hand, the wind was whipping. Despite my winter garb, I was getting very cold and I couldn’t imagine how my 10 pound Yorkie was faring.

I had met a total of four neighbors by this point and I walked by every one of their places to see if they had any lights on. They didn’t…and I didn’t feel comfortable knocking and possibly waking them up to come to my aid.

So we went back to my front door. I picked up Maggie and cradled her against the front door jamb. We were protected a bit from the wind – and that was a good thing.

Eventually, the maintenance man arrived and I was never so happy to see his little golf cart making its way to my driveway.

As he unlocked the door, he said, “This is for sure not the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last.”

With teeth chattering, I replied, “Uh, no. For me – buh-lieve me – it is!”

And that very day I headed to Home Depot to have half a dozen spare keys made. I vowed that I would sprinkle spare keys all around my yard. Sure, it isn’t going to be terribly safe, but – as God is my witness – I will never get locked out again!

And, yeah, I’m sort of kidding about putting keys all around my yard. I know that will wreak havoc on the lawn mower come spring. Besides, with all the snow we’ve had lately, I fear I wouldn’t be able to find any of them anyway.

But my very next purchase from Amazon was one of those little bungee key chains that I can slip over my wrist so I will always have a key on my person.

Good Girl Scout reputation restored. Whew!