That damn key again.....

The cold front finally arrived.  It was the kind of morning I would have loved to have walked, but my schedule had other plans:  I had to be in Christoval, just outside of San Angelo, at 10:00 am; it's an approximately four hour drive, but I left at 5:30 just to be prepared for any mishaps.  This time I rented Diane Keaton's "Then Again" -- it was pretty entertaining, at least when she talked about herself and her movie start life, a little less so when she spent loooong hours discussing her mother and -- especially! -- reading verbatim from the woman's journals.  Diane, we appreciate the fact that you had a loving but complex relationship with your mother, but seriously, don't you think we'd rather hear about Warren Beatty and Al Pacino?

As I parked my rental car back at the Budget lot, my heart sank as I realized that my own car key was missing.  Where was it?  It had to be in my purse!  But it wasn't.  Well then, it had to be loose in the car somewhere.  But it wasn't.  I had rented the car the night before, so it's possible the key was somewhere at home, but I called Jackson and he couldn't find it either.

So, I grabbed my purse and my weighs-a-ton leather binder with all my work in it, and walked the 8 or 9 blocks to South Congress, grabbed a southbound bus, which I shared with, like, 30 insane middle schoolers who all got on together after a few blocks (who WERE they?  Where were they going?  Weren't they a little young to be going somewhere en masse, with no adults?).  That walk, as well as the five minutes or so it took me to get from the bus to my house, took a total of 20 minutes.  So after allowing myself a half hour or so to unwind, I took Banks to Stacy Park, and we had a cold, windy and wonderful 1 hour and 10 minute walk. 

And when we walked into the house, my eyes rested on my work badge, hanging from the giant jack on my bookcase, and there it was -- my key, hidden right behind my photo i.d., which is where I carry it during the work day.  Thank God I don't have to spend the bulk of tomorrow making arrangements for a new key.

I am so excited about tomorrow!  Finally I am going to realize my long-deferred dream of going to a coffee hosue with my laptop.  I'm going to put it in my backpack and find a place (ideally) 2.5 fmiles from the house, and take care of the whole wad early in morning.