OK, I don't as regularly as I used to post. Sitting on the floor of our elevator today I said to myself "This is blog post worthy for sure."
I have a lot going on today for a retired person. I did not have to get up at the crack of dawn but my first phone call was at 8:30 and I had another one at 10:00 so at 9:45 I decided to take the microwave that we are giving away on Freecycle down to our lobby. We live on the third floor and carrying a microwave down three flights is probably not a good idea with my wonky knees. I also remember saying to myself, I don't need my phone, and it needs all the charge it can get for my 5 phone meetings today. I even said to Rod as I left "If I get locked out, I can call your phone which is........" and we both looked at the bedroom where he charges it every night.
A bit of back story, the elevator acted up twice on us, in December and in November. We called the property management company, and they called the elevator people to come fix it. Oh, the joy of condo living, and I am serious about that, not being sarcastic this time. More back story, the running joke in our family is that Rod rarely receives a phone call, and often has the ringer turned off.
SO the elevator goes down the three stories, and when I get to the lobby, the door does not open. I put the microwave down, and start pushing buttons. One sounds like a door bell, one is a picture of a fireman's hat, none of them do anything and by now, all of the floor buttons are lit up AND neither door will open. I do find a small door with a phone button in it and dial the elevator emergency service. Finally a live person. I ask them to call Rod's phone so he can tell my 10:00 meeting that I might be late. They call him, it goes to voice mail, because it is still beside his bed with the ringer turned off. I don't panic yet. I do wonder if I will run out of air to breathe but that and my 10:00 meeting are the only things I worry about. I don't expect to be there long. The emergency service cannot give me an ETA for the tech, but I don't really worry about that.
In fact, this is the point at which I say to myself, probably out loud "I could do some yoga!" Every time I hear anything I ring the bell to let people know I am locked in the elevator. The person on the phone told me to do that so the techs could locate me. Our lobby is tiny, there is only one elevator, clearly they deal with larger accounts than our 17 unit condo. I call them back, and they let me know Rod's phone went to voice mail, I ask them what time it is. My only time device is my phone which is still charging up stairs. It is 10:02 so I am officially late for my 10:00.
At this point, I have been gone for 20 minutes Rod starts to wonder where I am and comes down to the lobby after the elevator does not come up. We have been through this twice so he is not surprised. He hobbles down the 3 flights of stairs (he is in a boot nursing a calf sprain), looks for me, does not see me at the bottom, hobbles back up, thinking I have gone for a walk and he picks up his phone message and just hears " blah blah blah Wife is stuck in the elevator blah blah blah." He hobbles back down the three flights at each landing saying "Sally you in there, which floor are you at?"
This is the point at which I am OK. Finally someone knows where I am, in fact someone that loves me knows where I am. To an extravert being alone is not comfortable, and in this case it was pretty terrifying, but the yoga did help. What was I supposed to do? If I had known I would be shut in the elevator I would have brought my book with me to read, or my knitting, or I would have my phone with me to check email, or Facebook.
The tech arrives, two condo board members and Rod are waiting for me at the door, the tech shows us how to open the door from the inside and I dash upstairs 30 minutes late for my 10:00 meeting. This is a story we will be telling for ages, so it must be blog worthy.
