Parable of the Keys

Last Sunday while at our condo Craig and I had a "discussion" about the keys he had lost. It was the same discussion we'd had a thousand times. "If you'd just put them where they belong we wouldn't have this problem" I said. After several minutes of him looking everywhere and then concluding he had left them in the lock and "someone" had stolen them-I joined the search. Retracing his every step I found the keys in the refrigerator inside the 12 pack of diet Dr. Pepper. (Obvious place.) I once again encouraged him to "just put them where they belong" to which he replied, "Yes. Mommy." Needless to say, I let him know I would no longer be joining in his daily search for keys.

Coming home from the temple on Tuesday Craig brought the keys to our Camry in and put them on the counter top. (We're suppose to leave them in the car.) Wednesday Stacy, Gavin, Lexi and I went for a walk. After coming home I jumped in the car to leave and you guessed it-no keys!!

After a quick look around I called Craig to ask about the keys. "They're in the car." "No they're not." "That's where they have to be." "No they're not. I need them and you'll have to find them when you get home from work." Neither one of us dared go much further than that in the conversation.

Craig came home and looked all over for the keys. No luck. He gingerly asked if I'd looked for them. I gave him the "are you kidding" look and that was that. He hadn't found the keys by the next morning and needless to say I was not happy. This was the second set of keys to the Camry he'd lost.

About mid morning Craig called to let me know he had ordered a remote for the car so we could get another key and remote set. "That's good, cause we need it." I still wasn't very happy!

I'd told Stacy about the key incident earlier in the day and as we talked again on the phone I let her know that I would be getting a new remote and key; after all that is the consequence. A short time later I received a call from Stacy. "Mom, this is one of the hardest phone calls I've had to make-but I have your keys in my diaper bag." Oops! Seems I'd forgotten that I had put the keys in the diaper bag when we went on our walk the previous day. Oops again!!

Moral Delima: Do I call Craig and apologize or just happen to find the keys somewhere in the house? After the call (and eating my words) my husband was very gracious and only once remarked that he had gone crazy looking for the keys and only once referenced a conversation with "I wouldn't talk!" He really was very forgiving!!

So the point of the parable-Be nice! It just might be your fault! Oh, and put the keys where they belong.