I drove back down from Sedona yesterday after a week of festivities to work for a couple of days and I’ve noticed a small theme around this small boomerang trip (heading back up tonite I think after work).

I whipped in to town around noon yesterday and ran three errands before heading home to check on my cats then over to my office:  office, bank and naturally, Target.  I mean it was the day after Christmas right?  And I did have my eye on these teal Mercury glass trees that I should have gotten when I saw them, then saw them again when Amy actually did get them then by some insanity thought they might still be around for the after Christmas sale.  A girl can dream.

two are there on that shelf

And no, they weren’t there.  But some tiny crystal battery operated lights were and Sofia in the 4 pack cans was on sale for only $13.99.  So there was that.  😀

Oh, and some new pajamas.  I am going to Vegas this weekend for two nights with Rob and Barb and we’re all sharing one suite.  New pajamas are a necessity in a situation like that don’t you think?  Plus the best flannel ones always come out only at Christmas.  Arizona, remember?

I finish my small shopping spree and head out, reach in to the outside pocket of my purse, pull out my keys and they look normal, they don’t feel normal, something is odd.  Well that odd thing would be the fact that my CAR KEY IS NOT ON THE RING.

You know that expensive irreplacable smart key that opens the back door and all the other doors and starts the car?  The one where a thief could just press the button and see which car in the parking lot lights up then steal my car including my iphone I left in it?  Or just the iphone if they wanted to keep it simple?  That key.

I push my cart back in to the store (ok I got a few things, don’t judge!) and go straight up to Customer Service.  The gal happily holds up a key ring, with an entire set of keys on it!  Not mine.  😦  No key.

I push my cart back to my car looking all over the ground lamenting inside about how this is one of the times I really realize how single I am.

Yet I’m also remembering I live basically across the street.

And remembering as well I have a client in about an hour now.

I decide to run back home, grab my spare key (whew!), run back and get my car then hope the key shows up later.  But I’m nervous about leaving my car there unattended with that stupid car thief who has my smart key lurking potentially anywhere waiting to steal my iphone which would be worse than my car in some ways right now.

So I go back in to Target and ask to speak with the Security Guard I saw earlier.  I intend to ask him to keep an eye on my car for the next 10 min or so it takes me to run home and run back (ok, walk fast).

This young tall lanky hispanic man with his hair slicked back shiny, I mean real shiny, reaches in his pocket and produces yet another key ring full of keys, with his own smart key on it.  I have a moment of glee thinking he’s got my key!  But no, he just says “does it look like this?”.

Crestfallen, I just say yes and request he keep an eye on my car for a few minutes.

As if he’s standing on his own slick head, the security guard pivots so fast away from me I only see a black blur with a flash of a badge as he reaches over the counter at the now defunct or closed or something photo booth, opens a drawer backward and pulls out…………MY KEY!!!!!!!!!!!

I just about fainted and/or kissed him.

I asked him where it was and he said he just saw it sitting right there on the counter and so put it in the drawer.

I figure it fell off my key ring as I pulled them out right there, someone picked it up and just placed it on the nearest counter.  Then Mr. Security saw it sitting there and secured it in the drawer. All within minutes of this moment.

Had I not gone back to ask to speak to him, exactly him, that man, who knows how long my key would have sat there in the ghost of a booth, the NOT Lost and Found area, unattended.

My key found it’s way back to me against all odds!

Smiling and relieved, I drove home.

Excited to check my mail as I was gone for the few days before Christmas so I knew it would contain cards and maybe a gift or two (one).  😀  Also my Dad’s mail he has forwarded to me.

I opened my door, greeted the kitties, zipped around the corner to the key hook and……….NO MAIL KEY!

What?  Where on God’s green Earth is my dang mail key?

Trying to remember where I last had it, when I last saw it, I had a vision of the floor of my car.

I ran out there, poking around, no key no key no key, where is the dang key???  This one is worse because I don’t have a backup and no time to get a new key and my Dad really wants his mail and…………..

I decide to open the console between my seats and see this random mailish key looking key just sitting there.  No key ring.  You see my usual mail key always, ALWAYS was on the pink leather heart fob for YEARS it was on that fob along with the pool key and one of the times I went out of town, poof, disappeared.  Sigh….I still miss that steady predictable comfort of that pink heart key fob and keys.

This one WAS my spare.  And it had a little wooden whatever key ring attached to it, also nowhere to be found.

I pulled out the little mailish looking key with a weird metal clasp thing as it’s only attachment.

It looks like it should fit I think as I confidently carry it toward the mail box.

I insert it, rotate my wrist to the right and voila!  It turns!  It’s the mail key!

Now I have no idea how/what/why/whatever it landed in there without any kind of key ring attached or which one it even is.

But the fact that I lost, then found, two very important keys within a matter of minutes, caught my attention yesterday.

Today I’m reflecting on this message and I’m listening to it too.

Keep listening is basically what I think it’s about.  You can never been too busy or too distracted to listen.  You always have your listening skills in any situation.

Keep being confident in a solution. Don’t crumble.

Listen, then follow.

Everything is waiting for you.  Now go find it.

And don’t forget your keys.

find the full poem here:

http://www.davidwhyte.com/english_everything.html