“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America is intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
—Matt
Where do you hide your spare key?
I know that now a days people have keyless entry pads, or might use a garage door opener or even a phone app to open a door into their house. Hiding a key in a creative place to use if you misplace it or lose it has been a part of small-town life for generations. Being locked out is a universal experience for most people in the developed world. I remember my family hiding a key in an old film container under a favorite rock in the front landscaping. Or many lock the little used front door and then leave a side door open. In my own small-town, I often didn’t lock the front door with everyone constantly coming and going.
Living overseas in urban areas means security is a big deal, so doors are locked and with multiple bolts. There is no easy place to hide a spare key when living among streets of apartment buildings. Our overseas backup plan is to give a spare key to a trusted neighbor and hope they are nearby when you misplace it.
Once my wife was away at a meeting and I had our baby and toddler with me. Our school was within walking distance, so I was to take our two youngest with me when I walked to pick up our oldest son from school. However, that day a neighbor was getting home late from work, so I was to pick up their daughter too – I would have four little ones to navigate back home amidst the congested city streets. As we were heading out to school, I pushed the stroller out the front door with our baby and was heading back in to get the diaper bag and my keys. My helpful toddler was standing outside by the door and pushed the automatic locking door shut. We were now locked out, but still had to race to the school to get the other two kids who were waiting there for us. As we dashed to school, I tried to figure out what to do with my group that had grown to five kids on that hot, sunny day. We picked up the others at school, and the problem was that the neighbor with our spare key was not reachable and lived about a mile away. I was never so thankful to see another friend pass by in his vehicle, who loaded up the five of us, and drove us to get the spare key, and then home. How I wished that day that I lived in a place that we could hide a spare key under a rock or a front door mat.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
