My Bad Day

Today started out really normal, with the kids awake at the crack of dawn (which is really 7:30, but feels like the crack of dawn to me) and I had promised Olivia we could meet some friends at the pool at 11am. Naturally, I headed out to the car at 11:15- really, who is on time with two kids? Anyway, that's when my day turned into one of my biggest fears.

I opened my passenger's side door, put my purse, pool bag, and keys inside, then unlocked all the doors and put Jack in his car seat. Then I shut both doors and went to put Olivia in her car seat... and the doors were locked. She had pressed the automatic lock while I was putting Jack in his car seat and I didn't even realize that until too late. Now, it is a relatively hot day here, in the upper 70s, but the car is in the garage, so I knew it wouldn't get too hot too quickly, but my little boy is locked in the car crying because he's tired and hungry and he doesn't understand why I can't come get him.

I immediately started to panic. Normally I would like to think that I am calm under stress or pressure, but in reality I go into that lump in the throat, crying hysterically while thinking of all the irrational things to do type behavior. I told Olivia "You locked the doors!" and she started saying "I'm sorry Mom!" Not that she knew what she did was wrong, but she could tell something was wrong just by my crying. My cell phone and keys are in the car, I can't get in the house, all my neighbors are gone, and Jack is starting to cry now. I run to the front door with Olivia, since it usually doesn't shut all the way, but of course it is locked. The neighbors 3 doors down both ways are all gone. No one is home, and no one is out walking. I run back to the car with Olivia and I can hear Jack before I even get to the car. He is screaming, hiccuping, and red and tear stained. I just start crying some more.

Suddenly my next door neighbors pull in. I run over to their van and Karen, the mom, jumps out and I say "I locked Jack in the car!" and just start bawling again. Her husband called the Shaker Heights police, who sent two officers to open the car. It took them a while to get to the house and almost 20 minutes to jimmy the lock. This whole time Jack is still crying and my heart is absolutely breaking at the sight of him. My awesome neighbors took Olivia to their swings and kept her busy while I berated myself for being such an awful mother (looking back, I realize I'm not, but of course you think that at the time, right?). By the time they got the car unlocked, Jack had cried himself to sleep. He couldn't find his binky and his blanket was with me, so he fell asleep clutching his extra outfit I keep in the car for those just-in-case moments.

Looking back, I am so grateful for such wonderful neighbors. They were actually on their way to Canada for a family trip when they turned around because they had forgotten something. What a way for the Lord to answer my desperate pleas at a time when I felt so helpless and alone. In the end, Jack was in the car for about 45 minutes or so and it hadn't got very hot in there, he was just sweaty from all that crying. My poor little boy clung to me at the pool, and he is not really a cuddler. I just held him and he put his head on my shoulder, as if to tell me that he was okay and he still loved me, despite his little ordeal. So, anyway, that was my little adventure, and we learned some lessons today, like never put your keys in the car unless you are putting them in the ignition, have a spare house and car key hidden somewhere outside, and never teach your 2 year old how to press the locking button on your car door.