Having two keys is seriously important
Car keys. They've been around forever. If you've bought a car made in the last 10 years (20 years if you buy fancy cars) though, you probably have noticed that they have changed a lot. Instead of just having a metal key they started offering a fob to go with it. Then little tiny chips got added to the key. The fobs got built into the keys.
But it didn't stop there.
Some cars now have laser cut keys. Or electronic fobs only with a push button start. It's gotten crazy.
But I digress. You see, non-simple car keys pose some issues. First of all, they can go bad now. There are batteries in these fancy keys. And if the battery goes dead, you can't start your car. And if you want another key, it's not $3 at Ace Hardware, or even $35. Nope, it's $150, at usually at a dealer.
So let's say, for instance, you buy a car from a family member. They only have one key because the previous owner took off with it. No joke. This is my life. I'm not blaming the family member at all, not their fault. But the keys are expensive, so you decide not to buy another one from the dealer, because you're good at not losing keys.
Fast forward two years. You have a two and a half year old and a new baby. And your husband is now driving that car.
It's a snowy winter. So your husband leaves work a bit early because of a snowstorm, stops at the store after work. Stays home and works from home on Wednesday because of a ton of snow. He plays with the toddler outside in the snow and does a bunch of shoveling. Gets up Thursday to go to work, and has no keys. None at all. After searching the house, as much of the snow piles in the yard as possible, and the garbage, he takes your car to work.
Your first instinct is just to throw money at the problem, but how?
You call locksmiths, but....they charge $150 to come to you, and need YOU to get this special key code from the dealer, and the dealer insists you do this in person. AND they charge $40. AND..you have a toddler and an infant, and don't want to bring them all out multiple times. You miss an appointment because your husband has your car. He asks for a couple days to keep searching. You agree, but...you've already looked everywhere. But, OK. So the weekend goes by. You decide that the only solution is honestly to call a tow truck to pick up the damned automobile to bring it to the dealer in order to fix this.
Legan was so ecstatic to get to see a tow truck. I was super happy that he brought a flatbed and it was snowy so that the car didn't get dragged too far with the transmission in park. Because without keys...it's stuck in park.
But there's a huge snowstorm going into Monday morning. No joke. So you don't bother calling a tow truck...because they're all out picking up true emergencies out the ditch, and you're just stir crazy. So Tuesday you call, and it takes them 4 hours to get the car picked up. And then the dealer doesn't get to it until late in the day.
Now, all of this WOULDN'T be a problem except you have the rescheduled appointment set up for Thursday. And the car isn't ready to get picked up until 7 pm Tuesday night. There's no way you're getting kids out the door at that time of day. And....a record breaking polar vortex is hitting Tuesday overnight.
(Seriously, I can't make this shit up, can't!!!)
So it hits. It's -25 Wednesday morning. Your husband stays home. The warmest time of day is roughly -16. But you take that moment to use the autostart and seat warmers and several blankets for the kiddos. You bundle everyone up and get into the car and drive to the dealer, and pay them $450 for two new fully programmed keys, and get everyone home and there's plenty of screaming and crying in the car because everyone is hungry and bored. But, you got the car, so that Thursday morning everyone can make it to their important places.
Hooray, home just before sundown on Wednesday.
Thursday morning hits. It's still -25. Windchill is still -45. Neither car will start. No joke. Now you're rescheduling again. And your husband is home from work again. And everyone is stuck in the house again. One of the car batteries is dead from trying to start it. No joke.
You wait until 1 pm. Your friend has dropped off a battery charger. You hook up the dead car and you go over to the probably not dead car. It starts, HOORAY!!!! The dead one fires up pretty quick from the charger too. It's now 3 pm on Thursday. This has been going on since 6:45 am the previous Thursday when originally the keys were discovered to be missing. It's been over a week.
But it's over. And you make it to your appointment on Friday now, and your husband makes it to work. And because you had to reschedule twice you have no sitter so both kids get to come to your appointment, so now everyone has left the house again. But at least that was good.
Also, this isn't a for instance. This is real life, this is exactly what we went through a couple weeks ago.
So what I really want to tell you is, just drive the car to the dealer within two weeks of losing the first key. And pay for that duplicate right away. Because it's $150 to tow the car to the dealer or the locksmith and it's $150 for the locksmith to come to you. And keys just aren't simple anymore. So it's all ridiculous. SO....just replace your keys.
This helps with making sense of this all, or at least experiencing it with laughter. Not only does it taste amazing, but it also has a name you can feel classy saying. "Sir Maple," it's like Sir Elton John, right? My whiskey is a knight?
Happy baby in a basket of soon to be folded diapers
Hanging out in mom's bed, eating mom's teething necklace.
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