Before I started writing the most entertaining, awesome blog in history (just agree with me), I was a gymnastics coach.  The following story took place on my very first day as a coach:

It was a cold, snowy, miserable February day, but I was excited to get to the gym. I had found a job as a gymnastics coach, and as a former gymnast myself, I couldn’t wait to start helping youngsters develop their talent in this great sport.

I was taking my boy to the gym, too. He was two at the time, which was one of the age groups I had for the morning. Not wanting to arrive late due to the snowy weather, we packed up and headed toward the gym with plenty of time to adjust for slick roads.

When we got to the gym, I had about eight armloads to carry. I had my diaper bag, my son’s blankie, a cup of milk, another bag full of toys, and my son’s hand. Right then I was merely focusing on getting inside with everything I needed to carry.

Once inside, all seemed well.

I set up for my classes, made sure my son had enough to occupy him during my first class (he was only participating in my second hour of classes), and waited for my new students to show up.

Two hours later, I was exhausted! Putting my son in a class I coached turned out to be a HUGE mistake as nothing I said could get him to listen or stay with the group.  Also, chasing a dozen kids around for two hours and trying to keep them entertained is not an easy task. I felt like I had accomplished a great feat.

On this particular day I was in a bit of a hurry to leave the gym because I had planned to go to lunch with some family members thirty minutes away. I figured I’d have just enough time to get there if I changed at the gym and drove straight to lunch.

I put myself together in a great rush, made sure my kid was presentable, and gathered the millions of things I had brought to the gym.

We finally got to the car—Yes! We were still making good time—only to find that my car keys were missing. AAAHHHH!

I always lock my car. 90% of the time my car is locked when it’s in the garage. But this day my full hands had prevented me from double checking the lock.

Although my car not being locked was a good thing at that moment, it also meant I had no proof that my keys ever even made it into the gym.

I started searching my car and belongings in and out. I had no luck there and started searching the outside perimeter of my car thinking I may have dropped my keys there. Unfortunately, it had been snowing quite heavily that morning so I couldn’t see anything. It was also very cold and I didn’t want to stay outside too long. At this point I was in “anxiety mode.” If I could find my keys in the next few minutes, I could still make lunch. But at this point they were nowhere to be found.

I made a mad dash inside the gym and—big surprise— there were no keys in any logical place. Of course, I searched the bathrooms, trash cans, lost and found, toy bin, and everywhere else I could think of, but my keys were not turning up.

By now I had missed lunch and wasted nearly an hour looking for keys. I just wanted to get home, which, apparently, was too much to ask.

I know I looked distraught at this point, and my new boss offered to let me borrow her car so I could retrieve my valet key from my house. My house is less than 10 minutes away from the gym, so that sounded okay. She even offered to let me kid play at the gym while I was gone! I thanked her profusely and took off.

I made it home without a hitch and got my valet key (FYI: a valet key is good only for starting the engine of a car. It won’t unlock anything, so this was another good reason my car was unlocked).

I started back for the gym with new hope for the day. Sure, my keys may have been lost, but at least now I had a way to get home with my car.

I got about halfway to the gym when the transmission in my boss’s car blew.

Her car was around 13 years old and she told me she’d been expecting it to die any day. Lucky for me, it decided to die this day. To make matters worse, I was on a frontage road where there aren’t many drivers….and even worse, I was in the dead center of the road.

I was now in “panic mode.”  I’d already lost my keys, chased hyper children around all morning, missed lunch, and left my own kid at the gym.  And now my boss of a mere week had let me borrow her car which was now completely ruined—and I was behind the wheel.

At this point, I was past rational thinking.  I was stuck in the middle of a frontage road in the winter. It was freezing outside and I had no control over my situation. I called my boss in a panic and told her what happened. She told me she’d call AAA (a must-have when your car is 13 years old) and try to find someone who could drive her to my location.

I hung up and sat in agony.

Quite fortunately, a couple men in a truck drove by about five minutes later. Seeing as I was in their way, they offered to push me to the side of the road. And seeing that I was actually in a great plight, they offered to give me a ride to the gym. I could tell they weren’t going to kill me, so I gladly accepted the offer.

I secured my boss’s car and went to the gym in great relief that I’d been rescued.

You know those days when you have no functional thought process and everything falls apart? Well, this was one of those days.  About halfway to the gym I realized I’d left my boss’s keys in her locked car. That’s right—I locked her keys in her car!!! Even better, I left the keys in the ignition (yes, I realize how completely stupid and insane this story makes me look).

I finally got back to the gym and had to tell my boss what I’d done now (let me remind you again — at this point I’d known this woman for less than a week).

Very -oh so very- fortunately, AAA was already on their way to her car.

I got my kid and my boss in my car, drove to her broken down car, waited 15 minutes for AAA to arrive. Once the AAA mechanic was finished retreiving her keys and putting her car on a tow ramp,  my boss and I parted.

Glad this debacle was finally over, I drove home trying not to cry.

I tell this story for a few reasons

1)      Panicking is not good in emergencies! It makes things much worse than they ever have to be.

2)      Remember your emergency contacts.  After telling this story, about 10 people reminded me that I could have called them and they would have come and helped us in the first place. 

3)      If something like this ever happens to you, learn from it. This really showed me my weaknesses in extreme pressure and gave me something to work on.

Now that I’m writing this blog and constantly thinking about emergency preparedness, I’ve remembered past events such as this that have helped me start to develop the proper mindset for mental preparation. I’m still not perfect, but I constantly realize how many minor emergencies our everyday lives bring. Getting through these and learning from them is a great way to prepare for larger things that may come our way.

And, just in case you were wondering, my boss kept me around!