Home, sweet, home. I just returned home after meeting with a client in Philadelphia. I drove my car half-way and parked it in a garage and took the train the rest of the way. The meeting ended late and by the time I returned to the garage is was 11:50 PM. I walk to my car only to discover that I didn't have my keys. I must have lost them sometime during the evening. I'm a 40-minute drive from my house (where there is a spare). But what do you do when you don't have your keys? Calling a locksmith doesn't help because even if he could get me inside, I didn't have keys to drive it.

It was that moment I realized that I really need to make some New Jersey friends. I've been living here for almost 2 years. I have a few friends, but not ones I can call at midnight to drive 40 miles to pick me up. Of course my mind went to my husband or lack thereof. How comforting it would have been to call him. Well, I am grateful that the area of the garage was safe. There were police officers, construction workers and garage attendants all around (none of whom could help). But thank God safety wasn't an issue. But it does feel lousy to be stranded with no one to call. Maybe in 45 weeks that will change.

Oh, and since I am typing this, I obviously made it home. I realized that my purse had a hole in the lining, which after 25 minutes, I discovered had swallowed my keys. I've never been so grateful to know my belongings are coming apart! Now looking back, I'm curious to know what someone should do if they were in my situation. Have any of you been stranded in that way? Let me know. I think I'll call an expert and get his advice, and then we'll all know how to handle ourselves next time.