I can’t find my car key again
Remember when I posted this, oh, about a week ago on social media?
Fun fact about Lincee: I lose my keys an average of six times a year. They are almost always in the ignition of my locked car. I am a creature of habit. If my “exiting the car” routine is thwarted, I will undoubtedly lock my keys in there. In fact, I used to do it so much in high school, that I had a spare car key in the principal’s office. And the guys down at Tommy’s filling station knew me by name. (Is that small town, or what?!) I’m surprised they didn’t all pitch in to buy me a Slim Jim lock pick for my birthday.
This latest adventure took a mysterious turn. Allow me to explain.
I hve my keys in my hand. I leave my apartment, lock the door and walk to my car (roughly 50 steps away) to fetch my sunglasses. I retrieve them, lock the car door and at that moment I realize my credit card is inside my purse inside the house. I walk back, unlock the door, walk five steps into my den to get my card, turn around and walk five steps back out the door and lock it. That’s when I discovered my car key was no longer hanging on my key chain.
Unfazed, I open my apartment door again, grab my spare and head out to the car to retrieve the lost key. I study the ground from point A to point B and find nothing. I search my car and find nothing. I go back in side and search the FIVE STEPS I walked and find nothing. I search my pockets, my purse, under the rug, under the chair, my hair, my bra and my shoes. Nothing. For the next 30 minutes, I looked for a key that had to have dropped somewhere in the span of about two minutes. NOTHING. I combed through bushes by my door and along the walk from my door to my car, which is 80% concrete by the way. I searched under the actual car, as well as underneath the seats. I found several gum balls, a pen, two hair clips and a petrified chip that had to have been there since 2005. But no key.
For three days, this has weighed on my mind. I scoured the landscape and even took a flashlight out at night to shine in the bushes to see if the metal part of the key would catch the light. I was anxious because it HAD to be somewhere. But it’s not. I’m irritated because I can’t find it and I’ve taken up four paragraphs of this post so each one of you will feel the sheer frustration of this situation. What is wrong with me?
Janet Jackson had an entire album dedicated to my problem. It’s called control.
I want to fix this situation. It seems easy enough, yet I can’t solve what’s in front of me. And that is as annoying as it gets. I have a decision to make. Am I going to let this rip a hole in the lining of my stomach? Or am I going to let it go?
Have you ever felt that you can’t catch a break? Does your life feel out of whack?
Dear reader, I am right there with you. It’s very easy for me to be self-reliant and trust myself. It’s quite different to admit my faults, face my weaknesses and trust that God is going to guide me where He wants me, regardless of this life list I’m dying to check off.
I saw NEEDTOBREATHE in concert Friday night. I’m writing a separate post about their amazing new album, but I couldn’t help but sharing a few of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, “Multiplied.”
God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
And these Hallelujahs
Be multiplied
Surrender. As someone who has mastered controlling environments and situations, I find the act of surrendering to be a daunting task. I know it requires sacrifice and sometimes I’m just too selfish to participate.
But I’m working on it. With every lost key, God is reminding me that He has a plan. He has a great design that stretches beyond anything my controlling mind could fathom. He’s got this. I need to hand over the reigns and rejoice in the inevitable glory that He will receive if I just let go.
At least that’s the plan for the next time I lose my keys.
??? Who posts a mystery like this without revealing the answer and giving your readers proper closure on the issue! Now I’m stuck re-playing the scenario and asking 100 questions with no hope of a resolution. How am I supposed to get anything else done this week?!
😉
Good point Ryan! I still haven’t found the key. Boo.
Thanks for reminding me in your own special way that we’re so much better off when we calm down and leave it to Him.
I very rarely lose things, or misplace things. Just my nature, I guess. However, when I do, I usually go a little nuts for a short period of time, hunting hunting hunting. And then I say to myself that someone else needs what I’ve lost more than I — somehow that eases my mind, and peace returns. And more often than not, so does the item lost.
However, having “lost” three important people in the last month, I can honestly say it’s far easier to lose a diamond than a friend, and yet I keep telling myself that my higher power needed those people more than I did, and I repeat that to myself until the sorrow passes.
Oh, and when I was a kid my father used to explain that heaven was a fun place because residents got to “watch over” folks down here on earth and have a little fun with them. It was his way of explaining why shoelaces break just as you’re getting ready for a big tennis match or the baby upchucks on your good suit before an important interview. Sorta like Laurel and Hardy — frustrating, little catastrophes happening all the time but they just work their way through it, and in the end smile. Pop used to say it was a fine line to walk between having fun with mortals and being cruel, and the challenge was to find the right mix.
So now I know that when I accidentally chop up a spoon in the garbage disposal or forget my elaborately prepared lunch on the counter, it’s just a little torment put upon me by one of the three people I miss the most, and I can smile.
I found a clue! You wrote “Am I going to let this rip a hole in the lining of my stomach?” Which makes me think, did you check inside your purse liner? I’ve had my house and car keys get sucked into the space between on two occasions.
HK! That has happened to me as well!!! Drove me absolutely crazy as I was searching everywhere. Mine happened at night. I was at a large grocery store. Finished shopping, back out to my car (didn’t lock my car doors, oddly enough).
Searched high and low and tried to re-trace my steps in the grocery store, went to the manager the whole nine yards. Nothing.
Called my then boyfriend who was a cop and lived quite a distance away from me. He drove down and found them within 5 minutes. In the lining of my purse!!!!!!
song downloaded! thank you for sharing this!
St Anthony is the patron of lost objects. Say this prayer 3 times while turning 3 times (in your mind’s eye..or actually): Tony, Tony turn around, something lost and must be found! It really works. Your key will be found..if not right now but in a day or two. BELIEVE!!!
For weeks, I couldn’t find a stack of papers that had a lot of research work I didn’t want to re-do. I sat down and finally said, “God, you know where the paperwork is, I don’t. If you want me to find it, please lead me to them.” I then got up and went on with my day (not necessarily searching) and stumbled onto them within an hour or so. Twice this happened to me and I just smiled when I found what I was looking for because it was like getting a hug from God!
Your keys are probably with the Sprinkles I bought for my two yo grandson’s ice cream that disappeared as soon as we walked into the house and my husband’s straw hat that he wore home from the pool. So frustrating. Love your blog and look forward to “all things bachelor!”
Lincee, I have lost a mailbox key walking back from the mailbox and a mortgage payment from my house to my car in the attached garage. Neither have ever shown up. I am in downtown Houston but I am thinking there is a Bermuda triangle-ish area in the vicinity.
Lincee – I realize the point here is not WHERE IS THE KEY?!?! But I have to share this with you in case it helps. A few years ago I lost my car in a similar situation – having gone nowhere but back and forth the 20 steps from my house to my car. I looked for that key from 10am until 10 pm – checking and rechecking, inside shoes in the hall, in the fridge (where I once found them before) – nothing. My husband then looked from 10pm-1am. Let me say there was yelling and crying involved, as this was a fancy electronic key that would cost $600 to replace. At 1 am my husband charged triumphantly up the steps – “I found it!!” he shouted, brandishing the key. Where, you ask? It was tangled in the shoelaces of my black and white converse all stars! The key, also black and white, had fallen right onto the shoe and was camouflaged there – where I had repeatedly looked – for HOURS! Crazy. Check your shoelaces ; )
Lincee- I have left my keys in the ignition several times too, until I started doing this: attach the key to a large lanyard, and attach the lanyard to your purse. Don’t ever take it off the lanyard. Drive with your purse in the center of the two front seats so that the key reaches from the purse to the ignition. Next time you get distracted, and go to leave, you will probably either see the long lanyard stretched out in front of you, or you will grab your purse to go and realize you are still connected to the car. I hope you find your key soon!
Oh gosh- one of my girlfriends pointed me in the direction of your blog in a hard effort to turn me on to The Bachelor. As we approach two and a half years I have to know-did you ever find the key?
What a wonderfully sincere, funny post reminding all of us to give it to God. Just what I needed to hear this week-from one control freak to another.
I came upon this post after losing my key’s with in a matter of 5 feet. I’m a chronic key/wallet/phone loser, and have been ever since I got my license at the age of 16… I’m now 30. In the past 14 year’s nothing has changed for me other than instead of me losing my key’s whenever I want to go out in my spare time for fun I’m now losing them whenever I need to go to work, or need to go to a job interview, or whenever I need to go to other important event’s, and/or thing’s along those line’s. it’s costed me job, after job, after job, and today it’s costed me another job as well as a friendship. I had worked for a friend now for the past 2 day’s leading up to today. I loved my job. I was going to be making decent money, and learning some valuable skill’s along the way. With that being said I had to be at my friend’s house every morning no later than 6:30 am, and for the first 2 morning’s prior to this morning I had been at my friend’s house on time if not 10 to 15 minute’s early for work. This morning I woke up extra early (about an hour earlier than I usually do), showered, got dressed, made sure I had everything that I was going to need for the day, and was out the door at 5:15 am. I had a bottled soda, a few snack’s, my phone, and my car key’s in my hand. I unlocked my car, got in, and set all of the item’s that I had in the passenger seat. I live in Baytown Texas, and hurricane Harvey had recently claimed the vehicle that I was driving prior to the car that I’m driving now via flood water’s. I still have the vehicle itself, but it’s electrically totalled. Anyway’s, after setting the item’s in the passenger seat of the vehicle that I’m currently driving I got out, went to my truck (previous vehicle that was totalled by Harvey) to get a few CD’s out of it, so I could have to listen to in my current vehicle. I open the driver’s side door to my truck get the CD sleeve off of my driver’s side sun visor, open the back driver’s side door, get the CD’s from the back, take them to my current vehicle, and set them in the passenger seat with all of the other thing’s that I had set there previously, then I go back to my truck, shut both the back, and front driver side door’s, walk back to my current vehicle, get in, shut the door, go to get my key’s out of the passenger seat where I had set them along w all of the other item’s that I had brought w me for work, and they were gone. I have torn both the car, and the truck apart looking for my key’s. from the front door to my car it’s roughly 5 feet, and it’s all concrete. I went back inside the house, and searched every single nook, and cranny that I had been around as well as the one’s that I hadn’t been around all multiple time’s to the point where it became infuriating. I went back out side, and searched the path that I took from the front door of the house, to my car, to my truck, back to the front door, and every single inch in between. STILL NOTHING. I pulled everything out of my pocket’s a total of 12 different time’s (I counted), and everytime it was the same exact thing’s in my pocket. A lighter, a pen, 82 cent’s, and a pack of cigarette’s. I waited til’ 6:00 am before I calling my friend to let him know what was going on, and that I wasn’t going to be able to make it in to work today unless I was somehow able to find my key’s. I was hoping that since I had lost my key’s in such a short distance that I would be able to find them within the span of 45 minute’s, and still be able to make it to work on time. It’s one of the most embarrassing, and self humiliating thing’s in the world to me to have to constantly admit to someone that I lost my key’s. Especially if that someone is a friend of mine. It’s now 8 am, and I still have yet to find my key’s. After reading the different response’s to the original post on here I can honestly say that the “With every lost key, God is reminding me that He has a plan” idea is completely idiotic. If that’s the case, then I have absolutely no faith in God what so ever. I have a real problem with someone, or something keeping me from being in complete control of the success that I obtain in my life. It’s like God is saying that he doesn’t care at all about wether I want to be successful in life, or not cause that’s not what he want’s. it’s like he want’s me to fail over, and over, and over again, so that I never amount to anything at all, and frankly I’m fed up w it. I will NEVER go to church. I will NEVER pray. I will NEVER have anything to do w God at all what so ever from here on out. I don’t see the point in worshipping, and praising someone that make’s my life pointless by filling it full of failure, and keeping me down simply because it’s not “his” plan for me.