Good Karma

By 10 this morning, I was ready to go back to bed, and this was supposed to be my day off.
Last night around 10, another teacher texted and asked if I'd substitute for his 8 a.m. class. I had no real reason not to sub, so I said yes. That meant I set my alarm for 5:30 so I could go to the gym to work out before class.
But when I got out to the car and tried to turn the key, the plastic fob that holds the key had cracked. It wouldn't turn all the way. I played with it for a few minutes trying to figure out how to turn it off or on. I got it out and went back in the house. I found some tape and wound it around the plastic. It wasn't strong enough to turn the key either.
So I grabbed the keys to the other car, knowing I'd be back in time for Spencer to drive to work at 8 too. I planned to stopped at the hardware store on my way home from the gym to have another key made.
As I raced into the parking lot at 7:20 a.m., the store was dark. I walked to the doors any way, hoping to see the store hours. The doors were locked. I walked away dejected and texted my neighbor to see if I could borrow her car. Then I heard a knocking on the window of the hardware store. The woman inside motioned me back to the door.
They didn't open until 8, but she could probably help me, she said. I showed her my broken key.
"Oh, no. The guy who does those kinds of keys doesn't come in til noon," she said.
The key has a computer chip or something, which makes it extra expensive and hard to duplicate.
"Okay," I turned back toward the door.
"Here he comes now," the woman said.
And at 7:30 in the morning, the man who wasn't supposed to work until noon came in the hardware store that didn't open until 8 and was able to make me a new key.
"Let's go try it on your car," he said.
But when I explained that I had to drive a different car, he said, "Take it home and see if it works. If it does, come back later and pay."
And that's what I did.
I ran into the house at 7:40 a.m., threw on some eyeliner, showed Spencer how to work the coffee maker and made it to campus by 8 a.m.
I paid for the $60 key on the way home, proud that I had solved my car issues without waking my husband and forcing him to take care of it.
It might have been bad luck that the car key broke, but I must have good karma because all the planets aligned to let me fix the problem.