Life is full of lessons. Sometimes you have to search for the meanings they bring us and other times they almost reach out and smack us across the face. Who would have known that there was a little life lesson in handling rental car keys? Not me.
Kyle and I recently returned from a week long trip to Hilton Head, where we sat by the pool, drank beer and grilled dinners for seven straight days with our friends John and Kate and their son Ben. Life was good; it was the ultimate in relaxation. Little did we know that life was lurking in the shadows, just waiting to teach us a lesson on our last day.
Our last day brought us an early getaway from Hilton Head and the need to hang out in Savannah, GA before our 7pm flight. We arrived to Savannah with visions of a relaxing drive through town to view the historic homes and a long, very late lunch. Those sweet, sweet naive dreams….
We parked the car and decided to walk through the historic district, which consists of about 8 or 9 plazas hinged along subsequent blocks. Roughly 25 minutes and 8 blocks later, we were on our way back to the car when the sky opened up with lightning, thunder and a sheet of rain that caused us to seek shelter in the doorway of the nearest building.
Okay, so you’re thinking…what does this have to do with rental car keys? You guessed it…as soon as the rain cleared, we headed back to our car. Upon the approached I noticed Kyle frantically searching his shorts pockets and the backpack he was carrying. I knew we were in trouble when he turned to me and asked, “um…did I give you the keys the car?”
The next hour is somewhat of a blur, consisting of huge claps of thunder, lightning streaking the sky and a total downpour of rain. I recall calling the Savannah Welcome center, the police and Budget rental. I recall standing alone on the front steps of a large, historic building getting pelted by rain and trying to save our computers and camera from being ruined. I then recall giving up and walking out in the somewhat lessened downpour to continue the search for the missing keys…I must have looked like a mad woman pacing around getting drenched, but not noticing since I was staring at the ground in search of the keys. All the time I kept remembering the Camacho family story of losing our car keys at the bottom of the Wisconsin River…I couldn’t believe it was happening again!
I then recall calling Kyle to ask how his search was going…only to find out that he was still seeking shelter a few blocks away because he didn’t want to get wet. Let me say that again…he was still seeking shelter because he didn’t want to get wet. Very quickly after hanging up with me, he was out in the rain in an earnest search for the car keys. It is truly unbelievable that Kyle found the keys. As a last resort he wandered into a tea shop where we had previously stopped for about 2 minutes and asked if they had found any keys…and they had.
The lesson learned is really this…when renting car do one of two things: 1. Remove the second key from the key ring and put it in a secure place (not inside the car) or 2. Put a contact phone number on the key ring so that someone can call you if they find your keys.
Quite the drama to end our week of relaxation. So life goes…
Posted on July 10th, 2008 by katiejocannon
Filed under: Entertainment, Food, Travel
I can totally relate. Getting rained on is the worst. Well played Kyle, well played. And what about rule #3? Let Katie be in charge of the keys.
While I’d say not a rule, more of an “FYI”…pickling the liver with 12 beers per day for a week can affect the gray matter in the brain. This was the second “key” issue of the day for me, and I’m not normally one to misplace things. I blame the alcohol. Today I have not drank any alcohol and have not lost my keys….I think that clearly suggests it was the alcohol that particular day.
While Kyle’s searching style and level of concern may be considered non-traditional, it’s tough to argue with the results. Well played, Kyle.
We had key issues on the 4th weekend, too! We locked them in the trunk in Naperville. Wait. Let me rephrase - Nate locked them in there. Good thing that the Naperville police had nothing better to do than get them out. We were more than ready to get out of the burbs and back to civilization downtown!
ps - Kyle, you are a bit wuss.