I take a girls’ trip to the beach every year. My friend Emily always goes with me. We’ve vowed to make this time for each other always, no matter who else may come, or how close or far apart we and our families live. Last summer’s excursion was nothing short of exceptional and eventful. We relaxed, ate good food, and came home with interesting stories. You see, the locks of the condo are set up to always open to the outside, whether locked or not. The only problem is that even though you can get out, unless you intentionally unlock the door before going out, you will not be able to get back inside. On one particular afternoon after being on the beach all day, we were enjoying the patio while continuing our reading. After being out for 45 minutes or so, I was going in to grab something to drink… only to realize that we were stuck… on the patio… on the second story… with no shoes… no phone… no neighbors at home… and no key. We tried our breaking-in skills, tried getting the attention of a passer-by, but came to the conclusion that the best solution was to scale the wall and walk to my uncle’s house about a mile away (give or take a little- I had only been there once, the year before, so I wasn’t completely sure). Emily, being several inches taller than me, was the best choice in my mind to jump from the balcony. Me, being the family member of the condo owner, was the best choice in her mind to be the one to go over. Long story short, I scaled the wall, and she made friends with the 15 year old boys next door in order to borrow a phone to call a lock smith. We made it through alive, and it only took a few short hours.

So what was the fear that came true tonight? Well, shortly after moving into my new house, I realized that I have the same kind of locks as the condo. I made bets with my mom as to how long would take me to lock myself out here… only 4 months. Tony and I had a nice dinner outside this evening and had moved on to ice cream and talks of how we can change the world… to suddenly realize that I had shut the door, thus locking us on the back porch… after dark… with no phone… no shoes… and no key. Being slighly obsessive compulsive, I always make sure all doors are locked at all times. We scoped the neighbors to see who had the most lights on to ask about borrowing a phone to call AAA. Why AAA when it was the house we were locked out of and not a car? Well, he has a garage door opener to the house in his car, and AAA is free (whereas a lock smith is not), and that would get us into the house. However, I was about 20% unsure that even if we got into the garage, we still wouldn’t be able to get into the house through the door in the garage due to my OCD door locking habits. Much to our surprise, I hadn’t been concerned with it being unlocked earlier. All in all, it was a pretty painless experience, didn’t take any longer than 45 minutes, and we got to meet a neighbor along the way. I was also pleasantly pleased to know that Tony didn’t lose his head at my irresponsibility to unlock the door before going outside, keep a key hidden, or for locking his car doors even though he wouldn’t have. I mean, in a situation that you haven’t much control over, what good is getting angry? So, we got to have a little more quality time on the front lawn (although we were slightly worried at one point when it started to sprinkle).