Perhaps I should slow down with the war stories. Their aura may be catching up with me. Then again, I always said life with me was never dull.

As I gathered the kids into the car to go to day care this morning, I found that I couldn’t start the car. Literally. I couldn’t turn the key in the ignition. As I pulled it out to reseat it, the problem became obvious: a third of the key was gone, broken off.

I began to pull the steering column apart, but then thought better of it and tried the key again. Desperate and persistent key jiggling eventually paid off, and I managed to start the car. My one thought: what if the rest of the key is broken off in the lock?

I dropped the kids off at day care (leaving the car running), and then parked it at work. At the end of the day, I managed to turn the key in the ignition after some extended effort, and drove home.

Luckily, my wife’s key worked in the ignition, so either the broken piece wasn’t in the lock or it disintegrated under my withering gaze. I went out immediately and had a couple of extra keys made.

Extra points to anyone who notices the small oddity in this story….