My family and I took an impromptu walk downtown last week. We leashed the dogs (Doc, the corgi, and Ethel, the Great Pyrenees and Collie mix) and strolled towards downtown. The weather was perfect. It was a few days before the smoke rolled in from Canada. We enjoyed how quiet things were on Second Street, and the kids were delighted that Pearl City Popcorn was open. We’re big fans of their ice cream (seriously, it is so good). The uphill walk home always takes a few more minutes, but I did convince the boys that holding a dog leash makes it easier since both dogs tend to pull while walking.
We arrived at our house, and my wife realized that her key had bent at the tip. There’s always a brief panic as you process how you’ll get into the house. Couple that with kids that are tired and need to take a break, and things start to get a bit hectic. My neighbors across the street were sitting outside, and I asked Mike if I could borrow pliers to try and bend the key back. He quickly obliged and tried to salvage the key, but it was too far gone.
What next? Well, I did what any 39-year-old man would do in this situation; I called my mom. Before you judge me for being a “mama’s boy,” know that she had a spare key. The only problem was she didn’t answer her phone! I tried one more time, and she picked up. Without hesitating, Mike offered to drive me to her house to grab the key.
The moral of this story is, having good neighbors is worth gold. A quotation that says, “a good neighbor-a found treasure.” Thank you, Mike, for being a good neighbor!
By the time we returned, my wife had improvised, turned on the hose, and the kids were happy–crisis adverted. We also didn’t let that ruin our family’s walk. If anything, we need to take more of them, assuming it isn’t 100 degrees outside. My friend Heather suggested that we change one lock to a keypad, thus avoiding any issues should other keys break or get lost. While I love technology, I’m not sure if I trust that quite yet. I would have thought by now we could use a fingerprint or retina scan to unlock a door! Maybe that’s coming soon. We shall see.
