The adventure of the day

Today started out alright, except for the lack of sleep I got last night due to Jade's congestion that kept me up most of the night. I felt better though, after a cup and a half of coffee this morning. The daily routine started out well. Breakfast, then cleaning the kitchen, picking up the living room, and getting the kids dressed. We went out for our daily walk around 11:30, and by that time it was already starting to get hot. We headed back just before noon, and I got the kids upstairs to our apartment. I noticed the house smelled a little foul, so I gathered up the trash, and took it downstairs to the dumpster, which is about 15 or 20 feet away. I left Jade in her infant carrier from our walk, since I was just going to be a few seconds. I left the door open, so Jared could watch me, like he always does.

AS I was heading upstairs, Jared decided step outside, and lock the bottom lock on the door and shut it. We were LOCKED OUT. Jade was in there alone. The maintenance office was right next to the dumpster, and I always see the head maintenance guy go in and out all day long. "No biggie" I thought, I'll just walk on over there, explain what happened, and he will just let us right back in. Nope. The maintenance room was closed and locked, and he was NOWHERE to be found. Sooooo, Jared and I rushed over to the manager's office up front. The door was closed, and locked. A sign was posted out front, they were on their lunchbreak. Shit. I walked around the entire complex, searching for someone in maintenance, or one of the office managers. Everyone was gone, I couldn't find anyone.

A lady and her son pulled up in a car, seeing I was in distress and offered to drive around to look for somebody. That was sweet of her. She eventually found the security patrol car that patrols the property 24 hours a day. He radioed a few people, and even HE couldn't find the right people to come unlock my damn door. It was getting pretty hot outside, and we had been running all over the place. Jared's face was red, and I could see he was getting short of breath. I picked him up and walked back over to my apartment, where I could hear through the open windows my poor baby screaming. She's been in there alone for about 25-30 minutes now, and I was getting frantic.

I finally knocked on the door of our downstairs neighbor, in hopes of her finding the pager number for maintanence. As soon as she opened the door, I lost it. I broke down and started sobbing. "My poor baby is locked in the apartment and I can't get to her. I can hear her crying, and I need to get in." She didn't know what the hell to do. As she went in the back to look for a number to call, the office manager came walking toward me, keys in hand. "Someone told me you were locked out" she said. Thank god for her. I was so glad to see her, I could have hugged her. I was sobbing hysterically, and Jade was screaming. I have never had such a feeling of complete helplessness. She opened the door, and there was my precious Jadie looking up at me. She immediately stopped crying. I picked her up, and held her and nursed her, and sang to her. She snuggled right up to me and fell asleep. What a day. I'm still shaken, and I will bring the keys next time I take out the trash.