...a very l-o-n-g day

I was supposed to pick-up MizYBee at 8:30 AM...
so I had set my alarm for 7AM...
[mind you, I got up at 0-dark:30 AM FOR YEARS...
but, I'm not in that "mode"...so 7 was tough...

particularly since you know...
if you read my previous post...
that Molly woke me up [out of REM sleep, no less...I was dreaming...]
at 2:08 AM, needing to go out...

since her surgery, she can't "hold it" as long...
[I'm sure she's sore, poor thing...]
and it takes her much longer to "go"...
probably for the same reason...

but after coming back in and going back to bed...
it was past 3 before I could go back to sleep...
and then suddenly... the alarm...
and I wasn't at all ready to get up...

but I did...got dressed...
& took Molly for a quick walk around the short block...
then back inside for her pill & her breakfast...
while she was eating, I wrote a quick post...
changed my clothes & got ready to go...

we scrambled out the door at 8-ish...
I let Molly into the car...
she hopped in without help...
choosing the shotgun spot...

then, I dug around in the trunk...
making sure I had all my choir music...
so I could work on it today while waiting in Ahnoldtown...
and we were off to the vet's...

I told the vet how she had removed the E collar during the night...
and after he looked at the messed-up bandage...
which I told him gets bunched just from her sitting...
he said,"why don't you just let us keep her here...
for a couple of days...
just until she can get some healing started...
and the infection under control...
then you can take her home on Friday...
and she won't need the bandage..."

I had been starting to think that direction...
so I agreed... and left to pick-up MizYBee...

it was getting close to 8:20... so I started to take the freeway...
until I noticed that it was a parking lot...NOT moving...
so I cut around back "ways"...and went parallel...
STILL not moving... then I had to head west & go under I5...
NOW...it was moving...

so I picked her up & got on I5,northbound...
she said that there were police helicopters, etc...
over the freeway, back where traffic was stopped...

just south of where we needed to get on and go north...

considering ourselves fortunate indeed...
we made good time, even with a bit of a late start...
and I left her at the entrance of the UCDMC...
while I went to park...

then I caught up with her upstairs...
in the Dr's "waiting room"...
after having the parking ticket validated...

"the board says he's "on time", she said...
rolling her eyes sarcastically...
this is part of the "ritual"... because he's ALWAYS behind...
whether it says he's on time...or not...

today, it was only about a half hour wait...
with a false alarm, when the nurse called her last name...
but said "Mr"... and a guy across from us got up...
that amused her because she'd never seen that before...
we were still chuckling when the nurse called her in...
and I went downstairs to wait...

I was really hungry [not enough sleep does that to me...]
but their cafeteria had stopped serving breakfast...
and wasn't serving lunch yet...
so I got some coffee, water & a muffin...

when the "grill" was open again...
I got a Gardenburger...
served w/cheese on a toasted whole wheat bun...
with lettuce, onion, tomato & pickle slices...

$3.50 for that is larceny...
charging $.05 EACH for a packet of ketchup, mustard & mayo...
OBSCENE...

but I was hungry...and it was healthy...
AND good...

my hunger abated...
I busied myself with working on the choir music packets...
things were going well...
I even caught a potential disaster, BEFORE it happened...
then I discovered that I was missing a page or 2 of one piece...
so I had to stop...until I get the rest of it...

since I had planned on doing work...
I hadn't brought my book...
so I played solitaire on my PDA...
after checking my e-mail & my blog...

suddenly, there she was...
MizYBee, the pirate, in all her eye-patch glory...
she'd had MORE than enough...and wanted to go home...
they'd had an emergency... so she had to cool her heels...
waiting for her treatment, which she dreads...
so now... she was out of sorts...

I don't really blame her...
I wouldn't want to sit in a chair...
w-a-i-t-i-n-g for some guy to come stick a needle in my eye...
while they did something else first...
triage or no triage...

so we went back to the garage...
and drove home...
arriving early enough...
that I began to plan my afternoon...

after dropping her at home...
I went home...
with plans to use the bathroom...
then "go from there"...

I got to the porch...
picked up the mail, reached in my pocket...

and couldn't find my keys...

I checked the other pocket...

not there either...

I went back to the car...looked in the car...
nothing...
opened the trunk...
nothing...
went back up on the porch & looked...
nothing...

walked around where I had walked with Molly...
between locking the door...
and opening the car for her to get in...

nothing...

a little voice told me that they HAD to be in the trunk...
I MUST have been distracted enough with the dog...
that I didn't put them IN my pocket like always...
and then, MUST have set them down, somewhere, in the trunk...

BUT THEY WEREN'T THERE...


I moved EVERYTHING...5 times....

I looked in my choir bag....
nothing...
I searched my purse...
nothing...
I searched my briefcase...
nothing...
I searched my church music file box...
nothing...

I used to have a spare key "hidden"...
not anymore...

if I couldn't find my keys...
I was locked-out...
and would have to call a locksmith...

and...

I haven't yet mentioned that there are 3 church keys on that key ring...

I don't lose keys...

in over 20 years of teaching...
I NEVER lost my keys...
not even once...

I called the vet...
nothing...

so I scoured the trunk again...walked around the yard...
looked under & around the front seat...
then drove to the vet's...

once there, I looked in the gutters, the street...
and asked again inside...

nothing...

I was going to have to drive back to Ahnoldtown...

so about an hour later...
I pull back into the "parking structure"...
take the ticket...
drive up to where I was before...
park... and start to retrace my steps...

after examining the area where I'd parked...
[under cars... etc...]
I went to the elevator...[s-l-o-w-e-s-t in captivity...]
and rode down...

during the drive...
I had been focusing on God's reason for all this...
and since I had no clue what that might be...
I kept telling Him that I trusted Him...
and that whatever He wanted me to learn/do was fine with me...

remaining quite unusually calm...
I retraced my steps to the restroom [finally...]
then to the Dr's office...
everyone was nice...& helpful...
& sympathetic...
but no keys had been found...

the cafeteria was closed...
but I could go through the dining room to where I had sat...

nothing...

remaining calm... expecting to find them...

I walked to the cashier at the garage exit...
she was very nice, but no keys were turned-in there...

I made one last loop through the dining room area...
then went back to the garage...
got on the elevator...
and s-l-o-w-l-y ascended to the level I parked on...

that little voice was telling me to look in the trunk...
again...

so I opened it...

looked through all the bags, purse, file box...
nothing...
moved the reusable grocery bags...
nothing...
then I looked outside & around the file box...
nothing...
under the bags, on the sides...
nothing...

I thought...
"Lord... if I find those keys in this car...
I'll be SO glad to see them...
I won't care about the extra trip..."

then...I realized that when I moved the grocery bags to look under them...
I hadn't lifted them up...
so I started lifting them up, one by one...
and when I lifted up the last bag...
the handles which had been down between the box and a box of tire chains...
came up with the missing keys tangled in them...
I just stared at them for a moment...
blinked my eyes...to make sure they were there...
and kissed them...
saying,"thank you Lord !"...

so I did find them in Ahnoldtown...
because the trunk of my car was in Ahnoldtown...

a-ma-zing...

so as I pulled up to the cashier, leaving the garage...
I said,"I found my keys !"
she was happy for me...
and when I handed her my ticket, to pay...
she said,"forget about it..."
and waved me through...

as lousy as the traffic had been "going"[the 2nd time]
it was really quite light for after 4 PM going home...

I got home...fed the kitties...
explained to them that Molly would be home in a day or 2...
noted that 3 were sleeping in the snuggy nest...
and 2 were sleeping on the other nest...
"keeping them warm"... no doubt...

I've had a busy day...
tomorrow I have a LOT to do at the church...
so I'm going to bed...
and to all, a good night...