LEAVE THEM WITH SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

Okay guys, sit back and enjoy the read. Some people make a Grand Entrance…..others make an equally memorable Exit. I have inadvertently landed in the latter category.

ALL DRESSED UP AND NOWHERE TO GO
It was Sunday morning, the sun and the sky were displaying California colors, yellow and blue. I had collected all my Sunday go-to-meeting items, purse, coat, phone, keys and proceeded out the door and down the stairs. My apartment door has a safety feature that causes the door to automatically lock when you close the door. I shut the door went down the stairs, and out the foyer door, into the courtyard. I reached for my keys to open the courtyard gate….and I realized that I had collected all the right items, but I had not brought them with me.

I turned to go back to get them…and the foyer door had automatically locked. I was trapped in the courtyard, with only a rock for sitting and a few leftover grapes for eating. I laughed a little at my predicament, took a few cute pictures, then the full magnitude of what I had done began to hit home.

· Even if I could get into the foyer, I had no keys to open my apartment with.
· My mobile telephone was in the apartment, so I could not call anyone.
· I was going to miss my last Sunday church meeting.
· All my friends’ phone numbers, as well as the landlord’s, were also “not currently available”.
· I could not remember the Landlord’s name and did not know where he lived.
· And the two cats were left in the house alone
· And MY MEDICINE!!

Here’s the nutshell version. If you want the longer version with all the extraordinary details, I will be happy to provide you with my two day saga.

Lost and Found: I was homeless, medicine-less, phoneless from 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning until 6:00 pm Monday night. Somehow,

· I found a way out of the courtyard,
· found out it would cost 180 euros for a locksmith which gave me additional incentive to find the landlord,
· found some friends at home
· they found me pajamas, bed, toothbrush and fed me
· found the Landlord (in the hospital),
· found his granddaughter,
· who found her father
· who found the key, and finally at 6:00 pm Monday evening
· I found myself in my home once more, with crying kitties, and
· found a few presents they had left me (yuck)
· found my keys,
· and I found out I never want to do that again.

As Always,

Frau Judith Stone