It's been another busy season in the Eder household. Last week the kids were off school for Spring Break and in the course of eight days we had a nephew visiting from out of town, a surprise 25th anniversary party for my brother/sister-in-law, a trip downtown to the Museum of Science & Industry (go see the Mythbusters Exhibit while you can) and a short getaway to Lake Geneva for Dan and me.
Dan and I both took a couple of days off, but it's always harder to get out of the house than you think it will be while you arrange for what's ahead and for what you leave behind (namely kids and their schedules). My parents were gracious enough to watch our kids for our weekend away which I had long anticipated.
Dan and I rarely go away alone together and it had been a year since the last time we did it. I was more than ready.
Our trip - once it started, which was five hours later than planned - began beautifully with a smooth drive up to Wisconsin and that kind of easy conversation that comes on a recreational road trip. The hotel was fantastic (Mill Creek Inn if you're interested) and we had the best suite in the place with a perfect view of Lake Geneva and a peaceful creek below (hence the name). There was a hot tub in the room - bonus - and we were well relaxed before we went out to dinner at a new pub restaurant called Sprechers (I'd recommend that too) which had an extensive menu, a stellar waitress and a Friday night fish fry which Dan happily ordered. We came back to the hotel room, opened our last bottle of nice wine from Left Foot Charley's and watched a movie.
The next morning we slept in and casually made our way over to Egg Harbor Cafe for an equally splendid breakfast with another fantastic waitress. I couldn't decide between bacon and sausage or eggs and french toast, so I got all four. We got back to the hotel in plenty of time to check out, and made our way to the parking garage while discussing what we would do with the rest of our day and night (we weren't due back home until late that evening). We came to our car, put all our belongings into the trunk and shut it.
Including the car keys.
Our first response, by God's grace, wasn't complete panic. We went back into the hotel and called the police who were there literally minutes later. The officer helping us was phenomenal and quickly got our car door open. The problem was the trunk release latch has been broken for about a year and a 1/2. So still no keys. This poor man spent the better part of a 1/2 hour trying to get our back seats to recline so we could climb through to the trunk, but wouldn't you know it, the seat release button? It's in the trunk.
After he moved on we called our insurance agency who deployed a locksmith. We went to a Caribou coffee and sat in big leather chairs while we waited for him to arrive which was a little less than an hour later. Still not panicking, but increasingly concerned that the charge for the locksmith is going to exceed the cost of the hotel and we were really trying to do this on the cheap.
The locksmith arrived with his visiting brother-in-law in tow, along for what was seemingly a standard job for them. They stayed for five hours attempting to get into our trunk. They were unsuccessful. Here's where I started to forget all the wonderful blessings God has just bestowed on me.
Of course you don't know in the beginning that these things are going to take five hours so you stand outside in your not-warm-enough coat in the garage of the hotel - where the sun isn't shining - and you wait and expect that any-minute-now that trunk will pop and you'll be on your way. Well his van had every tool, contraption and device known to a man in the business for 35 years and yet none of it could trigger that lock.
We're talking about a 2004 Nissan Sentra. Oh the irony.
We called in the VIN #, got a key code, and cut a key.
Nothing.
By this time Dan was coughing, sneezing and developing a fever.
I was pouting.
In circles.
For hours.
So much for my romantic weekend getaway. Why do these things always happen to me? Such were the pitiful thoughts racing through my head as I attempted to find something to be grateful about, some way to glorify God, some way to encourage my husband. But I kept coming back to the "poor me" attitude and felt hot tears stinging my cheeks as I walked up and down the main strip in and out of stores alone, not daring to buy anything for fear of the key cost and hoping to keep warm.
My husband, God love him, did not complain one bit.
Around the sixth hour of being locked out I begged God to give me a word - something - anything that would help deliver me from my self imposed crisis. The thought that immediately came into my head was "Rejoice that your name is written in the book of life." Luke 10:20
So I rehearsed it to myself over and over while I walked in circles and waited for them to call it quits.
After five hours and exhausting all his bag of tricks the locksmith gave up and took his poor brother-in-law home. By God's infinite grace, he did not charge us one dime.
In the end, my parents drove up with our spare set of keys and we went back to Sprechers for dinner while we waited for them. We spent the first ten minutes thanking God for everything we could think of (a lot of those prayers included our kids and my parents). That and a glass of wine helped a lot.
Sunday was Palm Sunday. I was asked to read Mark 11:1-11 about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the people laid their coats and palm branches on the road in front of him and shouted "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!"
A week later the same people were shouting "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
How very quickly we forget the Savior.
How very blessed I am that even when I am unfaithful, he is always faithful.
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