1 Moment of Forgetfulness = 20 Minutes of Tears

I remember recently watching an Oprah episode and there was a lady speaking about how her daughter had died after being left in the car because she had forgotten about her.  At the time I couldn’t understand how this could possibly happen, how do you forget your KID?!  Well unfortunately I learned how easily this could happen.  Today after doing some shopping with the girls, we were loading up in the car.  The new vehicle has a really cool feature- remote start up.  It has been awesome in this Columbia “Famously Hot” weather- it starts the air before you get in the car!  We’ll I started the car from my key while loading the girls, if you have this feature you know you have to lock the car doors then press the start up button.  After buckling Chloe in and Callie climbed in, I closed the door- FORGETTING the keys inside.  The girls were now both locked in the car- which was thankfully running with A/C.  I knew I had about ten minutes of A/C before it turns off automatically, so I went to work fast.  After five minutes of pleading, begging, yelling, bribing Callie to open the door, I called Vaughn and then 911.  For some reason all of Callie’s efforts of unlocking the door weren’t working and I knew I only had about five more minutes of running A/C time- 911 was my only quick option.  One minute after the car cut off, the fire truck arrived- YAY!  (side note: I’m crying the entire time, while people are watching this unfold.)  The firemen started immediately trying to get the doors to open.  About that time Vaughn shows up- I can only imaging what went through his head when he pulled up.  It seriously took about another 10 minutes for them to open the door.  Once the doors opened I grabbed Callie for a big hug!  She was totally fine, a little sweaty and curious about “what dos mans doin,” but overall great!  Chloe looked at us like “what’s the big deal?!”  Ugh, what an ordeal!  I was a total mess, but SO thankful for the quick response of the Columbia Fire Department, and for the staff at Hobby Lobby which brought water and candy for the girls!  I’m sure I’ll end up getting a nice bill in the mail for all of this, but that’s okay.  On Star is being set up today for “in-cases” but I pray I won’t need it.  All in all, everyone ended up fine, but this was a BIG lesson in judging someone else’s forgetfulness, because it could have easily been you.  Yes, its nothing like the poor lady who lost her daughter by leaving her in the car, thank goodness, but it shows how easily they can be locked in.  So in this summer heat, slow down a minute to make sure you have your keys on you and you don’t make the same mistake I did!