The (Temporary) Death of Independence.

Two days ago, I made my way home from youth studies around two by means of the Minneapolis bus system. Luckily for me, the bus system is fairly simple between the University and my house. Basically, I hop on the 2 outside of the Union, and ride that to the end of the line, then walk home a half mile. Unfortunately it still does take about a half hour to get home.

Well I came to the end of the line, and on my walk home, I realized that my keys were missing. Gone from any pockets I could possibly think of. And when I say I lost my keys, I mean all of my keys: car keys, house keys, keys to my bike lock, keys to someone else's bike lock, and keys for which I've forgotten the use.

Being the dumb oaf that I am, I decided to just chance it and continue the walk home, thinking maybe someone would be around to let me in.

NOPE.

And so there I was, alternating between standing on my doorstep, circling my house, and peering in through my windows hoping to find a way in. Now, even though it's only November, Minnesota still manages to get a little chilly. There was snow covering the ground, and the temperature was a crisp thirty degrees. Although in the spring time thirty degrees seems like a tropical relief from the Minnesota winter, knowing that I was stuck outside for a good couple hours, thirty degrees to me looked a little bit like this:

And so I stood on my stoop, calling people up, seeking refuge for the few hours before my room mate, Tessa, would get home with a key. I was fortunate enough, however, to be able to watch the entire course of action taken after a car accident that happened right across the street, including the arrest of a middle-aged man.

Finally my good friend Juliana came through for me, and I wandered back to the bus and to the warmth of her apartment until Tessa was able to pick me up.

The next day after searching for far too long after chemistry lecture for my keys, I finally gave in and called up my father, who was kind enough to drive all the way up to Minneapolis from Northfield to deliver spare car keys, and in the process take a look at my car to help figure out what was wrong with it.

Side note: My father rocks.

Now having access to my car, I drove to the Home Depot just down the road from my house, accompanied by Tessa's keys, of which I had some new copies made.
Now I've replenished my key supply for those which I need basically every day, and the rest can wait.

But what did I LEARN from all of this? After all, if I don't learn something from an experience, what's the point in remembering it at all?
I learned this: I absolutely despise relying on others for things that I should be able to do myself (i.e. Get into my own freaking HOUSE). It's not that I don't appreciate others doing things to help me out, but I just feel awful asking for the help. Not being able to do basic tasks on my own is the death of my independence. I'm entirely grateful for Juli lending me a place to sit around for a few hours, and Tessa for letting me borrow her keys to make copies, and my father for driving an hour out of his way just to bring me a spare car key, but it would have been much easier for me to simply be competent enough to not misplace my keys in the first place.

I also learned that no matter what petty little incidents come about, I've got some people to back me up, which is a good feeling to have.