Kids!

Sunday night on the way in to church, Thumbelina fell asleep in the truck. Because she didn't nappy in the afternoon. Mr. Happy was working in the barn, Zoomer had spent the afternoon taking a test to get his gun license, and Shaggy and Tigger took off running, leaving me in their dust. As a result, I didn't have enough hands to carry all the paraphernalia that comes along with being me, so I left my music binder in the truck.

Of course Thumbelina woke up once we took her coat off, and my ladies' trio wanted to practice, so I sent Shaggy out to the truck...with my keys...to get my binder.

Fast forward to after church; it was fellowship night so most everybody was already in the fellowship hall fellowshipping. I was talking with a girlfriend and making her feel better that my kids are worse than hers (that's a whole nuther post of it's own) - I told her that's why I was put on this earth...so that other people could feel better about themselves...hey, at least I can laugh at myself. And other people can too. Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand...Thumbelina and I were almost the last people in the church building, so I went to get my keys out of my purse so that I could stick my assorted paraphernalia into the truck before heading over to the fellowship hall. Except they weren't there.

Mild panic.

We went to the nursery to look for my keys, because Shaggy took Thumbelina to the nursery to play after he brought me my music book. They weren't there.

Still mild panic. Maybe Shags left them in the truck and maybe the truck was unlocked.

Thumbelina and I headed out to the truck but it was locked, and it was too dark to see if there were any keys there. So then we headed into the fellowship hall to find Shaggy and ask him what he did with them. Remember, this is the kid with dyslexia...the kid who can't remember to bring his homework home and who is famous for losing everything...and yes, I was kicking myself for giving him my keys...on our way to find Shaggy, Thumbelina and I passed by my friend whose kids are not as bad as mine and I told her my predicament...as she stood there trying not to laugh at me...it was a concerned laugh...

Found Shaggy as he was being lectured by the Preacher not to push other kids (this story just keeps getting better, doesn't it). Asked Shaggy where my keys were and he said he put them on the piano. Preacher lent me his keys to get back into the church building because it was locked. I left Thumbelina in Shaggy's care...pretty certain he wasn't going to loose her...and headed back to the room where my ladies' trio had been practicing.

No keys.

Panic.

Back to the nursery I went to look a bit more thoroughly, all the while my mind is racing and going to all the places my keys could potentially be...

No keys.

Panic.

Headed back to the fellowship hall and passed Zoomer on my way in who said, "There you are!" And I replied hurriedly, "I can't find my keys!"

Gave Preacher's keys back to his wife and made a bee-line to Shaggy to check his coat pockets. No keys, but I did find wads and wads of candy wrappers. You're all shocked, I can tell.

My friend asked me if I found my keys yet and I told her no, and said I thought it was probably time to call Mr. Happy to come and get us. Her husband offered to drive us home...and I was contemplating which children were going to walk home and which children were going to spend the night...when Zoomer pops up beside me dangling my keys. My keys!!!

Apparently he had taken them out of my purse to unlock the truck so that he could put his stuff in the truck before he went over to the fellowship hall.

Disbelief. Relief. And I wanted to strangle him. I think he gave me a few new gray hairs, too!

So the moral of this story is...just give in and let the kids rule the world. They're going to anyway.