*Cursing is involved in this post.*
We were set up to have a great day… happy children, a playdate with friends, trains and pizza. Should have been fabulous. Was almost fabulous…
The plan was to meet my friend and her two children at the Imaginon Library to experience the Castle exhibit that is currently on display. My boys LOVE trains, so what better than to ride the Lynx train into downtown and avoid having to pay for parking? We left our car at the Scaleybark Station and promptly boarded the train. Only 4 bucks round trip since kids under 5 are free. Cool, huh?
The boys are delighted on the train ride into town and we get off at the 7th Street Station stop and head to the library. The kids loved the exhibit and playing throughout various installations. After they got their fill, we walked to Brixx where my husband met up with us lunch, then strolled over to the 7th Street Public Market for TastyYo frozen yogurt deliciousness.
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| Graham and Sara Mae on the Lynx. Fascinated. |
We took lots of pictures. I checked in a lot on foursquare. My phone died.
Around 1:30 ish, Will looked about to expire so we boarded the train and I got off at my stop, several stops before my friend’s stop. I parked the stroller next to the car, scrounged in my purse for my keys, then started to panic. Where the heck were my keys? I searched the stroller, the kids’ backpacks, emptied my purse.
Will starts to cry, I’m melting in my get-up of a dress, and then I look in the car window. My keys are locked in the car. Shit. I reach for my cell to call someone to help. My phone is dead. Double-shit. Both my kids began to cry. F*&#!
I quell the panic that begins to rise within. I look up and down the parking lot. There aren’t many people, but I casually walk up to a few strangers with my crying kid in the stroller and my worried four-year-old grasping my hand. “Mind if I borrow your cell phone to call my husband?” I begged. “I locked my keys in the car and my phone died.”
In the ten minutes it took me to wait around for four or five people to walk through the parking lot NOT ONE person would let me use the phone. I got told to go to a store and call the police, several said they didn’t have a phone on them, and two people said their phone was dead. Really? I call bullshit.
Why would you NOT let a nicely dressed woman with two young children in the hot mid-day sun use your cell phone for a quick call? Did you think I was gonna run off with it pushing the stroller along with me? Did you think I was gonna beat you with my scrawny arms and take a few bucks too? Come on.
So, needless to say, I was still screwed. I scanned my surroundings and noticed a car repair shop across the busy street. We hauled over there and I told my story. I was told to wait inside until the owner came back and maybe he could help me. I had no other choice, so the three of us waited. About ten minutes later, the owner returned. He seemed unconvinced that he would be able to help me, but told me he’d give it a go after he was done eating his lunch. Alrighty…
After a few minutes of listening to my toddler whine, he gave up on his lunch and he and another dude from the shop got all of the car-busting-into gear and attempted to break into my car. About 20 minutes later, we managed to set off the alarm, but not get in. Will, the youngest and the most tired, was NOT impressed with their skills. I offered to pay them for their time and they politely refused. Kind Deed #1 of the day.
Kind Deed #2 occurred when a young guy came up and asked if I needed some help. I asked if I could use his phone, and he said… SURE! Whah? A normal, nice person! I called my husband, who said he couldn’t leave work, but that I could meet him back downtown and he could give me his spare key to our car. So… we re-boarded the train, went back downtown, got more ice cream (I think we all deserved it), and then finally made it back to the car.
Mother Nature sent me Kind Deed #3; As soon as we drove out of the parking lot the skies opened up and it started to pour. Yeah, that definitely would’ve sucked even more.
My lessons?
#1 – ALWAYS LOCK MY CAR WITH THE KEYS
#2 – Peeps need to start charging their cell phones
#3 – A 2003 Toyota Highlander is apparently challenging to break into. Go figure.
#4- If someone ever asks me for a small favor, I’ll consider their plight, and help if I can.
#5 – Human kind is generally kind. A few people suck.
Especially strangers at the Scaleybark Station.
#6 – The Blueberry pushpops from the TastyYo at
Seventh Street Public Market are really damn good.
OMG, I feel your pain! A few weeks back I was on the greenway with my kids and a random, rude biker almost ran over my 3year-old. As I was trying to catch my older son, the stroller with my baby on board, rolled down the embankment and flipped over into the swamp. Crazy! The kids were fine, thank God! But after rescuing the baby and stroller, I realized that the contents of the stroller had landed in the swamp as well… including my cell. Nice! When I asked an older lady (who was walking with her cell in hand)for her cell phone to find my own in the swamp, she said no and that it didn’t work… Bull! Anyways, very sweet and kind strangers helped me out and all was well, BUT nevertheless, it is ridiculous, when people don’t help!!!
That’s terrible that so many people wouldn’t let you use their phones. People are so cynical and untrusting nowadays because of a few bad apples.