Book Clubs, Keys and Being Together

Hi, friends! I had the best time on Monday getting to visit a wonderful, amazing book club in Atlantic Beach, NC. The ladies gave me the warmest welcome, were so gracious and made my second ever book club visit a complete joy!

As you’ve probably gathered, we’ve spent pretty much the entire summer at the beach, leaving only for book events, and have been generally off schedule. So, Sunday night, I knew I had to get myself in order. I had Will’s clothes laid out, his pool bag packed, my clothes laid out and my pool bag packed. We’d have smoothies for breakfast, I’d drop him at the pool with a sitter and I’d arrive at 10 am with plenty of time to spare. 

Monday morning, I was feeling good. We were up, dressed, hair fixed, smoothies drunk and ready to be out the door eight minutes early. I almost patted myself on the back. As I gathered our things and corralled my little one out the door, shuffling along in my heels, that little voice in my head said, Don’t lock the door. But I reassured myself that my keys were in my bag, and who wanted to walk all the way back up to the porch to lock the door in heels? I didn’t.

So I closed said door and got to the car. The door didn’t open, as it would have if my keys had been in my bag. I rifled around in my purse. No keys. Okay. Don’t panic. I put the bags down in the moist grass, teetered through the yard in my heels and put the code in the key-containing lock box we keep on the house for emergencies such as this one. I pushed the little spring loaded button. The cover wouldn’t budge. I could feel that something was jamming it. I tried forcing it open. No luck. By now I’m burning up and kind of panicking and pretty sure that fixing my hair was a total waste of time. I walk back to the porch and try to open the window that we sometimes keep unlocked. But I can tell even from the outside that’s a no go. 

The closest person that has a key lives twenty minutes away, so, no matter which way you slice it, I’m going to be late. I walk back over to the car. And I catch a break. My keys are on the front seat. Locked in the car. But visible. Thank goodness, not three minutes later, the car had been successfully unlocked via magical satellite that I do not understand. 

Thirty minutes later, I was sitting in a lovely living room with a beautiful view talking to an amazing group of women. One said something along the lines of, “You seem so together.” I just smiled. 

Together I was not. But I was there. And, sometimes, on a Monday in particular, that’s really all we can hope for.

Here’s hoping that the start of school this Monday goes a little bit more smoothly… Fortunately, it’s close enough that we can walk!

I hope you’re having an amazing week so far!