turtle mir

When I first got married I had about 2 weeks in between my honeymoon and before I started grad school. Camm was working during that time, so I was at home playing house. Every morning I would wake up with Camm and when he left for work I would ride Camm’s bike to the pool and go swimming. I carried my large blue Speedo backpack from high school every day.

One particular day I decided to stop at a grocery store on the way home to see if they had any produce on sale. I figured it would fit in my extra-large backpack without any problem. I locked my bike up outside and went in.

As I was filling up my shopping cart I looked down at the set of keys I was carrying and realized that the set of keys I was carrying was missing the key to the bike lock. I figured it couldn’t be too far since I had just locked up the bike. I began scanning the aisles. It couldn’t be too far, right? I started to get desperate. I started to crouch down to see if it was nearby. I started to panic and I got on my hands and knees to look under the fruit stands. I looked like a blue turtle crawling on the ground.

Along came an employee, “Excuse me, can I help you find something?”

“Uh, its just that I can’t find my key to my bike lock,” now not only was I feeling desperate, I was feeling a twinge of embarrassment.

The employee looked around for a few seconds, then disappeared. When he came back he was carrying a saw, “Would you like me to saw the lock off?” I could think of no options but to take him up on the offer.

I left feeling embarrassed. More than that though, I realized that I had ruined Camm’s bike lock (we’d been only married a few weeks). I was determined to get him a new one before he got home. There was a sporting goods store on my way home that I thought was sure to have it. I walked in (still with the large blue backpack but now full of fruit). They didn’t have one but suggested I go to the bike store down the street.

Upon entering, I told the salesman that I needed a bike lock. He recommended one to me that he said was “perfect because it is so long and can fit two bikes.” I believed him and decided if I bought it, Camm would never know the difference.

Little did I know, it is so long that I could not only hook up two bikes, but possibly five or ten. 

Camm did notice.