Ain't Got No Luck

It's been a very difficult few days.

No, not in the grand scheme of things. I won't remember these few days when I look back on my life in 10 years; I won't care at all if I read about them on this blog. I know this, but it doesn't make these difficult few days any easier to bear in the present.

I think the straw that broke my figurative camel's back was last night's car key incident.

I was sitting in my car (my sister's car, she's borrowing my car) at the gas station, filling up. After the car was full ($2.19/gallon is sick and wrong), I went to turn the car on.

Nothing.

The engine doesn't even try to turn over.

Oh, the joy of sitting at a gas station on Venice Blvd. at 8:30 p.m.

I called the parents, who are on vacation. My dad, brilliant mechanic that he is, gave me very explicit directions.

I went to follow the directions ... no car keys.

Where, oh, where, could the car keys have gone while I was sitting in the car?!

I spent 35 minutes (THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES I WILL NEVER GET BACK) frrrrreaking out and tossing the car. I ripped up the carpets, I looked in the glove compartment that I'd never even opened, I checked in the visors. I was DESPERATE.

The keys were stuck on the bottom side of the passenger seat, STUCK in a way that elevated them two inches off the ground and therefore just barely escaping my frantic search underneath the seats.

Thank goodness for the owner of the gas station and some random dude. They came over and helped, and the gas station owner went and got a flashlight. It was because of the flashlight that I caught a glimpse of something shiny and found the keys.

Yes, a small, small event.

That just took three years off my life.