Funny Story That Reminds Me of My Childhood

Growing up, my home-away-from-home was Louhelen Baha’i School in Michigan.  My family went to the school for conferences every year, sometimes multiple times a year.  I have many fond memories of my years at Louhelen, and some not-so-fun ones such as when I got the scar on my leg from slipping on a boulder (but hey, it adds character – right?).

One day, when my mom was a teacher in the Nursery, I had to change my clothes (I don’t remember why).  So I went into the bathroom to change and my mom told me not to shut the door all the way because something was wrong with it.  If I shut it all the way, I wouldn’t be able to get out because the door wouldn’t open again.  I heeded her warning and left the door slightly ajar.  I forgot something outside of the bathroom so I left to retrieve it.  Upon returning to the bathroom, I automatically shut the door.

I shut the door.  That means, I was stuck – locked IN the bathroom!  I cried, being a wee little girl, and my mom was on the outside telling me everything would be ok and that they’d get me out, I just needed to be patient.  Obviously, this whole experience was rather traumatizing, but look at me now!

Fast forward to March 16, 2010.  For months, the outside door to my apartment has been sketchy.  Roza and I have shared the pain of trying to get the door to open without breaking the door.  When May was here, we just knew we’d get locked inside someday.  And then it happened.

Kyle came over to help me make dinner (mac & cheese!) and as we filled a pot with water, I realized I was out of matches.  So, naturally, I grabbed some birr and made to head downstairs to buy some matches.  However, I couldn’t make it past the door.  The door, unlocked, was not opening.  So Kyle recommended I try it with the key.

Note:  Kyle’s door had recently broken so we had switched my outside lock with his bedroom lock and gotten a new lock for my outside door.  Before this repair, you used to have to open to door (when unlocked) with the key inside, slightly turned.  Sketchy.  I know.

The key trick didn’t work, and the door would not open.  It was ridiculous.  We were stuck IN the apartment – with the door unlocked!  We tried opening the window and opening it from the outside.  No luck.  The neighbors came and tried to open it from the outside.  No luck.  The guard came and tried to open it from the outside.  No luck.  Too bad we don’t have “emergency maintenance requests” like in college.

I did the next best thing – called Zelalem.  He was still at the school with the kids and Jasmine, so they all came over to try to break us out.  In the meantime, Galen brought us matches from their apartment so I could get dinner started.  We were fasting and I didn’t want to make Kyle wait longer for food.  Zelalem arrived and him & Kyle got to work on the door.  They took the whole mechanism apart (from what I could see) and I entertained the kids by having them help me make dinner.  Layli did some stirring, Jasmine grated the cheese, Shane ate the cheese, Yonatan asked lots of questions; it was a jolly good time!

Jasmine got a sneak peek at her apartment in Ethiopia and I think she’s pretty excited to be moving in.  More on this later.

Finally, Kyle and Zelalem got my door in somewhat working order.  I basically only have a deadbolt now and have to lock the door every time I close it otherwise it doesn’t stay closed.  Awesome, right?  I’m very thankful that they 1) were able to get it open and 2) were so helpful!  I still find the situation hilarious, and no, this time I did not cry.  I actually laughed, which is much better for my soul than crying over something like this.  Ohhhhh Ethiopia…