Tuesday, March 14, 2017

What Do Your Keys Tell About You?

My husband bought a new diesel truck many years ago. It was one of the few of that model around at that time and people...mostly men...were very interested in how a "power stroke" diesel truck worked. I am not a truck expert so I have no idea what that means but evidently it was pretty impressive.

The truck was a salmon color and had all the upgrades so it seemed very luxurious to me. It did whistle a little around the windows when you drove over 70 but that was a minor issue. I didn't like going over 70 anyway,

My husband was in heaven. My grandsons thought grandpas truck was very cool and owning the truck meant we could buy a fifth wheel RV. Life was a lot of fun.

But what impressed me more than anything about owning that truck was how many keys guys that do "truck talk" in front of the hardware store have. I stayed inside the cab of the truck as they emerged from the store and asked my husband about his new truck. We watched as they kicked the tires and asked to see under the hood. Their keys jingled as they inspected the underside and dropped the tailgate to get a better look. Having that many keys gives a person a aura of importance I think.

My husband was a high school principal for many years. He carried a key for every door in his school. Students figured out right away that there was nowhere to hide inside that school when he would show up unlocking closets and janitor rooms. No one had ever done that before. Those keys carried a lot of power. The jig was up and they headed back to class.

It turns out that you can tell a lot about a person based on how many keys they carry on their belt. My friend met a couple the other day. They both worked in the hospital. One worked in personnel but she wasn't sure about the other. However, the fact that he had a lot of keys on his belt led her to believe that he wasn't a nurse. Nurses didn't get to have that many keys she told me.

See what I mean.

We have carried keys around for years not knowing what they unlocked but remaining hopeful that a forgotten lock would be found for every mystery key. Right now I don't have a set of keys at all. Ours were stolen from our car and it turns out that it will cost several hundred dollars to replace the car keys so I just do without. We share what keys we do have. Someone out there has a set of keys with no car and a whole bunch of mystery keys. I hope that works out for them!

When my parents died, there were keys to important locks that I never found. I suspect that everyone has a junk drawer where spare keys to forgotten padlocks are stored. The mystery of all those keys will never be solved.

So, how many keys do you carry? I am just curious.

b+


23 comments:

  1. 3 on my key ring, 2 on my wife's, and 4 on the RV key chain. Not a truck in sight.

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    1. You are a smart man Bob Lowry... no finding a station that carries diesel, no big gas bill (our truck ate better than we did) and best of all you don't need a huge garage to park it in. Smart, smart man.!

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  2. 1 house key, 1 car key and 1 mailbox key.
    I too was a School Principal/Deputy Director before i retired so I can clearly visual your husband's set of keys! Great post!

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    1. Someone that understands the "key" to being important. Thank you. :)

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  3. Two keys (house and mailbox) and one key-like object (my car's fob) on my key chain. Any other key (for the sheds, etc.) goes in the mess we call the key box. Good luck finding the key you need in there.

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    Replies
    1. Do you have a name for you "good luck finding the keys" box? I need to know. I think mine would be a swear word. :)

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  4. One key fob, one house key. That's it! Every outside door in our house opens with the same key.

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    Replies
    1. Such a wonderfully organized world you live in. I think that says a lot about your life. I like it.

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    2. For those of you that don't know Carole, I suggest that you go over to her blog. Her husband suffers from dementia and she is finding her way through.

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  5. One car fob (the key is inside) and a house key (that is never used). We do have a key cabinet that holds all of the other important keys for the house.
    My last year teaching even the principal did not carry keys. All of the major locks were on a swipe card. All of the minor lock keys were carried by our resource officer.

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    Replies
    1. Oh my goodness I did not think about "swipe key cards". I suppose those need labels too. But it is hard to imagine a drawer or box full of key cards isn't it?

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  6. I have half a dozen keys on my keyring. All of them are used: house, mailbox, my car, his car, padlocks. I also have a dozen of those cards for various other uses on there: library, grocery stores of all sorts. Makes for a satisfying jingle. :-)

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    1. There is something satisfying about the jingle of keys isn't there. It is the padlocks that seem to be the mystery keys. We had locks without keys and keys without locks.

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  7. 2 keys (my house key and the key to my cousin's house) on my key chain plus the car fob. The post office box key stays in the car so I don't forget it. The reference to nurses not having that many keys - in the small hospital where I worked it was called the Cinderella complex. Nurses weren't allowed as many keys during the day when other staff was present but got access to those keys on the night shift when all the "important" people were in bed.

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    Replies
    1. See what I mean...the important people had are the "important" keys. :)

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  8. Love this. I carry my car key, house key and key to our gate. But I agree with you. When we moved from our first house, we left keys for the occupants that the previous occupants had left for us. And when we moved into our house in Iowa, they left keys that we never found a lock for. I think it's a psyche thing--we hold on to these keys fearing someday something will need to be unlocked and we thus we will be ready. And to add to that, I think there is way too much talk lately about SECURITY. Yes, we have it, but it seems to me that current commercials are beating us over the head with it. When my husband was growing up in a house full of 10 kids they never locked their doors. Who would want all that craziness. LOL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had not thought about the "security" factor...it is so true. My grandchildren both big and small are always encouraged to be careful about locks etc. But I also found that hiding a key outside was very popular. You might look for a strange looking rock in your front yard. Maybe a previous owner left a rock lock thing behind!

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  9. Enjoyed this post! Looking forward to reading more!

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  10. Too many keys. Including keys to my mother's house, despite the fact that it has not only been sold after her death but demolished and rebuilt.
    They weigh a ton too. Yet another thing I really need to address.

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  11. Like Carole and Janette and others ... one key fob, one house key. We're trying to simplify our lives!

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    Replies
    1. Simplicity is good. But I like a little mystery in my life.

      Am I grasping at straws trying to find a mystery in my keys? :)

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