How do I get there? The phone call that changed my life, continued.

A million questions and concerns flooded my head. The most pending issue being how was I going to get to her? I was an hour away and didnt have a car or even a license to drive. This made things exponentially more difficult. Little did I know that this was just the first of many hurdles I would inevitably face before the end of the day.

But now I needed to make some calls. It was my turn to change a few lives. I first called my dear mother and, as best I could, tried to explain what was happening. She was a bit shocked to say the least. I called my father and congratulated him for becoming the grandfather he had, for years, been dreaming of becoming. He was speechless, but managed to re assure me that he would be on the road as soon as he could, making the 4 hour drive to meet me in London. I called the owner of the retail shop and explained what had happened and the unique and challenging situation I had found myself in. He understood that I needed to close the store in order to get to London. I just had to figure out how to get there.

I had moved into a house with some fraternity brothers I knew from my University days. I called my close friend and co worker at the time and told him my situation. I begged him for a ride to London and, after another speechless and shocked reaction, he thankfully, but begrudgingly agreed. This was the last thing a single twenty something year old wanted to do on a Friday night. I then asked another friend to come pick me up at work and give me a ride home, as I had to pack an overnight bag. I arranged for my ride to London to meet me at home where I would be waiting with my packed bag, and we would leave from my house. All I had to do is lock up the store.

At this point, my mind was going a mile a minute. I can honestly say I was not in a stable mental state whatsoever. I still hadn't talked to her in hours and I had no idea how she was, or what was happening. I was scrambling to complete the day close check list as quickly as possible, which was easy, I had done it literally thousands of times. My ride to the house arrived as promised, plan was in motion and I would be there by 9. Thats when I realized what I had done. While closing up the store in my scattered mental state, I locked the keys to not only the front door, but the safe padlock key, inside the safe which I then padlocked shut. I had checked my pocket for keys before locking it, but I didnt pull them out and look at them. I had in fact kept the cabinet keys in my pocket thinking they were the keys to the store.

Reality hit me with an enormous blow. My girl friend was unexpectedly giving birth in a city an hour away and I had locked myself inside the store, with no way out.