The Blondest Moment of my Life

I am a natural blonde--the highlights came later-- but I try not to always act like it. Sometimes I just can't escape the sterotype, however, and today's mishap that I am going to share with you proves it. This morning marked the 6th Annual Liz Hurley Ribbon Run, which is a local 5K to support breast cancer awareness. I've enjoyed participating in the last 3 or so, and this year I signed up once again. I thought that Melody might like to walk with me, so several months ago she agreed to participate as well. There we are up there, all cute with our pink on...BEFORE the race.

The forecast called for sunny and a high in the 50's. In years past, this has been the typical forecast for this race and it's generally quite tolerable. Unfortunately, today it was cloudy, rainy and around 45 degrees. The wind chill was about 39 degrees, I believe. It was COLD! Also as is typical, I tied my car key into my shoelace so I don't have to carry a set of keys while I'm racing. I take extra precautions to secure it, and have never had a problem. Yeah, you know what's coming now, don't you??

Melody and I raced  trudged our way through the wet and slippery streets of downtown Huntsville. She is cold and miserable, and I'm trying to keep her interested and moving in a forward motion by pointing out some of the neat historic houses, Halloween decorations, people on their porches cheering us on....basically anything to keep her moving toward the finish line. My favorite quote from her today was after I had pointed out yet another cool looking church. She said, in a most forlorn and bored tone of voice, "yes Mommy, big, white and old." By mile 2 or so, the rain started coming down pretty hard and steady, so we even stopped doing short jogs. At long last, the finish line appeared and we made it across. I thought Melody did a superb job, because she never stopped the whole way, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not ideal conditions for your first 5K when it's cold and wet outside. Regardless, we proceeded to the parking garage nearby where I had parked my husband's car. Once there, I bent over to retrieve the key from my shoe, and it was gone. Just gone. One of my worst fears had come true. My mind immediately went through my options: 1). go back onto the racecourse and find it. NOT; 2). break down and cry. Maybe; 3). ask the person entering the vehicle next to us if I can borrow her cell phone, since mine is in my purse inside my husband's car. Winner! I think I did let out an involuntary *gasp* of astonishment and panic upon the discovery of the empty shoelace, and so the very kind lady handed me her cell phone. I called my sweet hubby and briefly explained the situation to him, asking him to please come and let us in the car, and oh by the way make it snappy 'cause we are freezing our buns off!! I think he was still at my son's final soccer game, and for all I know they were in the middle of handing my little boy his soccer trophy, but I knew that no matter what, I was going to ruin whatever it was they were doing. Melody then informs me (of course...these things always pop up when it's inconvenient) that she has to go to the bathroom, and she gives me the look that all mothers recognize to mean that you had better find a bathroom PRONTO. Then she starts to cry, bless her heart, because she thinks that my husband is going to come for us while we're wandering around trying to locate a bathroom. In her sweet 7-year-old brain, we are literally going to be stuck out in the wet and cold all day because we'll never make it back in time. Off we go, down the 5 levels of the parking garage, and by now I'm getting my prayer on that a nearby office building has their doors unlocked so we can get into someplace warm that has a potty. Luckily, we did eventually find one and got that business taken care of, then back out into the cold and rain we went, back up the 5 levels to our locked car. I figured it would take my husband about 20 minutes or so to reach us, and so we had about 10 minutes left to wait. So we stand there, trying to stay warm, and wait. We chat and commiserate about how cold we are, etc. Nearly 10 minutes pass by, when for some unknown and Heaven-sent reason, I glance down at my shoes.

And There It Is!!

The key!!!! It was tied onto my OTHER shoe. Yes, people, my other shoe. I had only checked the one shoe onto which I thought I had tied the stupid key. I have never felt so dumb, yet so relieved, in my entire life! Melody and I start jumping up and down rejoicing, but by then our car was the only one in sight, so we got to act like fools and nobody saw us. We immediately jumped into the car and I handed her my cell phone to call off the troops. I'm laughing and almost crying and cranking up the heater all at the same time. I start wheeling down and around the ramps of the parking deck, and then suddenly I pass my husband, who is going up the decks. Oops. We didn't call him in time. Then I feel a little bit ashamed... and happy and warm all at the same time. On the way home, Melody and I can't stop laughing about it. So there it is....I'm truly living up to my blonde potential!