The Lost Key

Since everyone (except me) had the day off on Monday, we went to the Wild Animal Park. For some reason, John decided to break with the norm and put his truck key (his one and only ignition key) on a separate ring. He did that so that he could leave all of the other keys he carries in the glove box. When he announced his plan, I was a little puzzled. We have a key that only opens the doors. We keep it in the glove box and use it when we go to amusement parks, the beach, etc. Not wanting to be "that wife," I didn't ask questions.

We went to the park and a couple of grocery stores. He never lost the key. That part is clear since we made it all the way home. When we parked in the driveway, I got his other keys out of the glove box and unlocked the house. He got some grocery bags from his side and followed me in.

Tuesday morning when he got ready to leave for work, I could tell he was missing something. When he told me it was the truck key, I got up and started helping him look. It soon became pretty obvious that he didn't just misplace it. It was actually gone. We tore the house apart looking for it. We did that thing that everyone does when something is missing: we looked in the most ridiculous places. Could it be in the produce drawer in the fridge? Maybe. Let's look. Nope. Maybe it's in the silverware drawer. You get my meaning.

The worst part about the whole thing is that his truck was blocking my SUV in. We had moved it out of the way when we were putting up the sailboat mast over the weekend. That meant that he couldn't get to work. Thankfully, he has the kind of job where he can occasionally work from home.

We looked for the key throughout the morning. I think he went through the trash twice. We both crawled through the grass searching like Velma after she dropped her glasses. It was such a pain!

Between conference calls, John called the local Ford dealership and found out that we would have to have the truck towed there to get new keys made. The cost for two keys: $150!

Not wanting to shell out that kind of cash for no reason, we continued to look. We had grilled both of the kids about the key. Molly loves little trinkets. We thought she might have picked it up for the silver surfboard keychain. Maya just has issues. We thought she might have taken it to get back at us. We really wanted to wait until they got home from school to see if anyone came clean. The only other idea we had as to what might have happened was that John dropped the key getting out of the truck. Maybe someone saw it and picked it up.

While we were waiting, I decided to check whether a mobile locksmith could help us. I found out that it was possible, but how much would it cost? We have roadside assistance with our car insurance, so John called them. They would cover the first $100. The balance would be on us. They were even nice enough to call and get quotes before selecting a locksmith. Since we had decided by this time that the key gone for good, we were thrilled to have someone come out and help. As it turned out, the cost to us was the same as it would have been if we'd had it towed to the dealer. Of course, it didn't cost as much in time or inconvenience. Score another one for Sahlin teamwork!

And if you're wondering whether someone has the key and could steal the truck, I wish them lots of luck. The locksmith reset the ignition code to match the new keys!

The ironic thing about all of this is that John had said on Monday that we really needed to bite the bullet and get a second key made. ;-)