As most of you know, the 24th of July is a big holiday around Utah and to members of the LDS church. It’s the day that we celebrate pioneer day, to show our gratitude to those men and women who years ago, faught for our religion crossing the United States to find a place they could practice this religion in peace. This is a holiday my mom has always loved. She grew up with the big celebrations of a small Utah town and loves to take every opportunity to join in those celebrations all she can. As for me, growing up in a state where this wasn’t a celebrated holiday, to me it’s always just been like any other day, with thoughts of the pioneers on my mind. No big celebrations or tributes to those men and women.
This pioneer day, my family came in to town. My Mom and Dad, and my little brother Jordan. It was so fun to have them here and to be able to spend time with them. Mia and I woke up early and got ready and went down to meet them for the parade. I met my mom at my Grandma’s house and drove over where we’d meet the rest of the family, including my sister and her kids. We stopped on the street the parade would soon be coming down to let my Grandma out and to hand off Mia to my Dad so that we could go park the car. I left the car running and hit the unlock button because the back doors automatically lock while the car is on. I jumped out, shut my door and that second, realized I had hit the wrong button and locked the door with the car running and my sweet baby girl inside. Needless to say, with my family there watching and we can’t forget about the hundreds of parade fans lining the street, I was so embarressed. We thought to call triple A for help getting it up, but in past experience, they’ve been known to take a while to get there and with a parade starting in about 5 minutes and my baby locked in a running car, time was not something we had.
So, my motherly quick thinking kicked in to gear(or common sense, ha) and I saw a man that looked like a police officer down the street. Tan shirt and huge walki talki thing on his hip. I ran down the street to ask for his help and when finally getting within about a couple feet of the man, looked at him and realized it wasn’t a cop, just a man probably helping with the parade. I stood there long enough for him to notice I was staring and him, akward, then turned and ran back. On my way back, my Dad and I spotted a police car driving up the road and instantly began yelling and trying to flag him down, of course only for him to not notice and drive on by. Luckily my mom up a little ways, stood in the road in front of him and gave him no option but to help us.
He pulled over and grabbed the tools he needed to get the door open. That included a wooden wedge covered in what looked like painters tape that he shoved in to the door frame to get it open just enough to stick what looked like a much thicker version of a straightened hanger in to the car. All the while, Mia’s just looking out at the officer, my dad and I trying to get the door open, not concerned one bit with why she was still in there, just as happy as can be. Not to mention the officer was getting calls over his radio because he was due to be helping with the parade. The officer tried on the drivers side door for a little while with no luck getting it unlocked, and moved to the passenger side where he could see in a bit better. After a few attempts, he finally got the door unlocked. And of course, to make it all even better, just as he pushed up on our lock button and got it to work, the hanger like took slipped off the lock, only to shoot up and hit the windshield just enough to cause it to crack out in circles, you know so it looked like a little spider web circle of cracks all stemming from the spot his tool hit the window.
The officer looked so embaressed. He hurried and grabbed his tool and basically ran back to the car quickly responding to our thanks and drove away. We finally had my little girl out of the car and I could finally move the car out of the way of the parade which we could see beginning just a little ways up the road. Now I had my next challenge on hand, explaining to Jason not only that I had locked mia in a running car, but that in the process of getting her out, the windshield was broken which of course would mean around $150 to replace. Jason was a little upset at the officer, but luckily, not at me. I felt so stupid with everyone there watching as I frantically tried to do anything to get my baby out of the car and running in the street to track down police for help. What a day it was.
The rest of the day went well, with lunch and the craft fair and just spending time with my family. It all worked out fine over all and I’m just glad we were able to get Mia out of the car quick and that nothing happened to her nor did she get upset in the process. I think she was more upset when she got out when what to her seemed like strangers took her out of the car, she hasn’t seen my parents in a little while. I was just happy to be able to spend some time with them and to let Mia get to know them a bit better.
