People say you lose your keys when you get old. Last weekend I had an extra set of mystery keys plaguing me. Add to that forgetting where I was going and what time I was supposed to arrive, and tearing off my car bumper with a teeny-tiny overcorrection, and I was very glad to know that I passed the dementia test a couple of weeks ago!
It all started with a simple oil change.
Both my Honda Odyssey and my Infiniti were due for oil changes. I have been using the dealerships for these cars because the minivan is still under warranty with the dealer, and my car is getting older and I use the oil changes to make sure nothing else is wrong. Esther and John Ben’s car broke down, and they needed the minivan to get serviced before their trip back to Texas. With only a day’s notice, they had to go to a quick oil change place. They packed up and left for their two-week trip on Tuesday.
I woke up on Thursday certain that I had a nine o’clock maintenance appointment for my car and I was running late, though the dealership was ten minutes away. Mike and Xenia came home from their walk and hogged the milk steamers for their homemade lattes, so I had to wait forever to make my London Fog. I panicked looking at the time and ran out the door a quarter to nine without my morning tea. Maybe it was because I was tired from staying up late watching TV with Xenia and didn’t have any caffeine. Maybe it was too many cars with simultaneous maintenance appointments. I left the house feeling proud to have made it out the door at all. Then halfway to the Honda Dealership, I realized that I was driving my Infiniti. I was supposed to be heading east, not west, and my phone was left at home, so I had no way to map where I needed to go! I called them when I got home. They had time to fit me in, so all was well that ended well.
Turns out that every fluid in the car needed changing, so they sent me home with a loaner car, like my Infiniti only updated. I went to Pilates, Albertsons, and physical therapy for my knee which always starts hurting when I try to exercise. The car still wasn’t ready by five, so Mike and I went on our Thursday dinner date, and I promised to come in the next morning.
Xenia and I went over together so she could have some practice driving. While I was distracted, explaining that only I could drive a loner, I reached out to the rack of hanging keys and took the remote key fob with the tell-tale white laminated tag. I threw my purse in the back seat and the key in the cup holder and zoomed away.
I left the car in the service lane, walked into the office of my service guy, and tossed the keys on his desk. He gave me a million papers to sign, swiped my credit card, and sent us on our way. Xenia drove home the long way so I could have her avoid the freeway. She gave me a seven out of ten on the drive home for gripping my seat once and failing to give turning directions ahead of time. She did great even with me distracting her. The rest of the day was crazy busy with a cello meetup with Dorothy, a migraine appointment for Jonah, and physical therapy for Justin and Xenia.
I was rushing to get out the door for the kids’ PT appointment and wanted to take the freeway myself, but I let Xenia pull the car up to the door. I dug into a side pocket of my purse for the car keys to hand them over. Underneath them was another set of keys!!! The word INFINITI was inscribed on the fob, and attached was a tell-tale blue laminated tag. I was certain that I had returned the key to the service guy! How in the world could I still have the key? Why hadn’t anyone called when they couldn’t move the car?
I puzzled over it all day Saturday between another grocery store trip, pancake breakfast, Costco, and Vespers. I was thinking about the mystery when I arrived at church and pulled into a parking space. A few weeks ago, I had to repark my car because it was sticking out into the loop through the gravel parking lot. I had been afraid of the cement car stops. Mindful of that past mistake, I overcame my hesitation and purposefully pulled forward. This time I pulled forward all the way over the parking block. As I found out the next morning when Xenia was driving us to church, it had cracked the clips that held the bumper on the right and left sides. The scritch-scritch of bumper against tire sent us back home again.
Sunday was crazy busy between the Divine Liturgy, helping out in the kitchen, and throwing a huge graduation party for the seniors graduating high school from our church. Kelly, Christa, and Yulia all went to Costco for the graduation cake and barbecue fixings, while I put my feet up before the festivities began, and that’s when the solution to the mystery hit me. I looked at our Find Items app and verified that all the cars I drive have trackers on them, but Basil never shared his key trackers with me.
I texted him at the Antiochian Village in Pennsylvania, “I may have lost your truck key. Can you check to see if it’s at our house?”
He replied, “I can’t, I only have a tracker on my key.”
I knew that I had given a key to the service guy, and it had to be Basil’s spare key.
Monday morning went eerily like Thursday. Again I woke up late, certain that Xenia had an allergy appointment at nine, and we were running behind. This time Xenia and Mike hadn’t taken a walk, and it was up to me to wake Xenia from a deep sleep.
The receptionist greeted us when we walked in, “Name and appointment time?”
“The appointment was for nine. I know we’re running late.”
The clock behind the lady had its hands at 9:15, but it must have been earlier than that because she said, “Two minutes more and we wouldn’t have been able to see you. I’ll let the doctor know you’re here.”
Xenia was unhappy at her abrupt morning, and both she and the doctor were unhappy that I brought her there with an empty stomach since that can increase an allergic reaction. I sat there ignoring their worry, proud that we had made it there at all. Xenia ate the one ounce walnut piece and had no reaction. I was sure to make the next appointment for the afternoon to accommodate her new gymnastics schedule now that she has moved up to Gold XL and her VBS volunteering. I drove home because Xenia doesn’t like driving the little black car that Jonah takes to school.
Halfway there, a guy from Infiniti called me, “You left a message about some keys you have?”
“Yes. I have your keys, but I’m pretty sure I gave you the keys to my son’s truck.”
“Truck keys wouldn’t look like our car keys. I don’t think we have any keys like that. Can you describe the keys you have?”
Xenia pulled them out of my purse and helped me describe them. He wanted us to read the small print on the laminated tag and give him the models and numbers listed there. When he finally believed me, he said, “Can you bring them in today?”
“Okay, but I’m sure you must have the keys to my son’s Ford Maverick.”
“Maverick? Wait a minute. Hold on.” We were on hold for the rest of the short drive home.
“We have your key! We’ve been passing it around the department trying to figure out what vehicle it belonged to.”
“Thank God,” I said, “and when I come in, do you think you can look at my bumper…”
An hour later I drove away from the dealership with my car fixed and Basil’s spare key still attached to the Ford dealer’s tag. I told myself, “All’s well that ends well.”
Then my phone alarm went off, alerting me of Xenia’s allergy appointment. Sure enough, written on the wall calendar, my phone calendar, and the texts from the doctor was the appointment time of 1:00 pm. What in the world was the nurse looking at on her computer?
All throughout the weekend I was hoping the story would have a happy ending to my car key mystery. Without my confidence in my memory of handing over the key and my assurance that it was Basil’s key, the key would still be at the Infiniti dealership. On the other hand, my takeaway from these busy four days has to be to check and double-check every appointment for time and place, no matter how sure I am that I know my schedule.
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