The Door and the Window

I had a nightmare moment the other day. One of those events that you pray never happens to you.

It was a hot summer day, the boys went out wakeboarding and I decided to take Maia swimming at my mother-in-laws house. My in-laws were both at work so it was a quiet afternoon spent eating lunch, laying out, and swimming with my baby girl. While I was attempting to lay out, Miss Maia Belle was running in and out of the house playing peek-a-boo with me. I was half paying attention to her and half twittering on my phone when I heard a door slam. I look up and see Maia's little face pressed up against the door smiling at me from inside the house. I jump up and think "Oh Lord NO! NO! NO!...Please don't let this be..." I run to the door and push the handle...LOCKED! "Okay stay calm. You don't want her to freak out...it's not the end of the world...you are only in a bathing suit that you would never wear in public, with your daughter locked inside the house with no keys and no way to get in. Don't panic. I frantically jiggle the handle hoping that maybe it will magically open. Maia begins to cry hysterically. I run like a mad woman all around the house checking all the doors...all locked. Maia is crying harder, her face is red and her lips are blue. I kneel on the other side of the door and tell her that mommy's here and she is going to be okay. I point to the door handle and tell her to reach up and turn the little knob...am I crazy or something? She's ONE; she looks at me like I am crazy. I check the windows, there is one open, but the screen is not one of those flimsy ones that I am used to and I cannot figure out how to get it off. I sit down in front of the door and call my sister-in-law who has a key. She is nowhere near and wouldn't be able to get there for at least 30 minutes. I think about calling 911...then I think about them seeing me in my bathing suit and decide that there has to be another way. I call Ricky. He is always calm and collected and will tell me what to do. I explain, he stays cool, then he instructs me to punch in the screen. I tell him that the window looks pretty small, he assures me that I will fit. I hang up, grab a chair to climb onto so that I can reach the window and call on my inner ninja. I karate chop the screen. It pops off. I very ungracefully climb through the small bathroom window acquiring a 12 inch long bruise on the back of my leg, jump onto the toilet and run to get my traumatized daughter. It was like a slow motion hero scene from a movie as I scooped her into my arms and apologized for not thinking to unlock the door before I let her play with it.

Note to self: always take a cover-up outside with you when laying out just in case you have to call 911...oh and make sure the doors are unlocked.