Anyone who's watched me slap all my pockets looking for my bike key knows that I don't always keep the best track of it. I know it is close by but not always exactly where close by is.
We all have a ton of keys: car keys, truck keys, bike keys, saddle bag keys, spare keys to our friend's place, safety deposit box keys, camp keys and that mysterious bunch of keys that we have no idea where they go but fear throwing away because five minutes after they hit the dumpster we'll remember what they open.
There is one particular key that can perform a number of functions other than simply opening a door - it can prevent a broken window, in some cases may actually keep you from freezing to death (hey, it's only 6 degrees here this morning) and it most certainly can salvage your pride so you're not stuck outside in your PJ's at 6 am. The dog is all ready to go back in, the neighbor is leaving for work and to top it all off the paper guy comes early. The number of unexpected arrivals will be in direct proportion to the length of time you have owned your PJs - you know what I mean. My former neighbor and I used to joke that we needed a new sleep wardrobe since several chimney fires meant that the local fire department had already seen all our bathrobes!
Indeed the key of which I speak is your spare house key.
Now let's talk placement of said key - actually not a conversation cause I'm the only one talking but you catch my drift. Several years ago I put my spare key in a great place outside my house. It was under cover, it was inconspicuous and there were probably only about 35 people who knew where it was! Story follows:
One February night about 6 o'clock I took my dog Jack outside and the second I closed the door to the house I realized I'd locked myself out. No worries - cut to smug look on my face - I have a spare key right nearby. Except it wasn't there. It's dark - I have no flashlight (shame, shame) and I have to tiptoe on the ice over to my neighbor's house to borrow a flashlight so I can search for the key. I left Jack tied to the fence while I was gone and don't think I didn't get the stink eye when I came back! I finally did find the key (did I mention the dog was already annoyed before I dragged him out?) before we both froze to death. It had blown off it's hook and was down between the two walls of the kennel.
I found it about the time I was trying to decide which of my windows would be the cheapest to replace and after I had pawed barehanded through all the dirt and debris and leaves that had accumulated inside the kennel. Why put on gloves, I was only going out for a couple minutes. We can revisit that subject at a later time.
That's once: now this past winter having secured my key on it's hook I knew I was good to go. However, being a belt and braces kind of person (if you don't know what braces are, as my mother used to say, look it up! She had a number of other annoying habits too.) I also made it a routine - okay, a compulsion - to always have another spare key in my back pocket. It quickly became part of the daily routine. Brush teeth, have coffee, put key in back pocket, etc, etc.
And believe me when I tell you that by the time March rolled around I could no more have gotten over that pile of snow between myself and that original spare key than I could have shoveled off my own roof! The shoveling roof detail by the way fell to my younger son and a fine job he did of it! Tastefully dressed in full SWAT gear but that's another story.
My point - in case I haven't hammered on it hard enough - is perhaps take a look at where you keep your spare house key. Think of finding it in the middle of that aforementioned howling blizzard or even just in the cold and dark and perhaps start to carry a spare spare? Or put it some place where it would be easier to retrieve - at least for the winter.
If you are thinking that your neighbor has your other spare key? What are the statistical chances that the neighbor will be home when you need it? Remember Murphy? He lives nearby, trust me on that one, and he does NOT have your key!
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