I'm A Terrible Friend

I have a friend, whom I see relatively often, and I respect and admire a great deal.  And today I stole something from her, and lied about it.

Before everyone decides to "unfriend" terrible me on Facebook, let me fill you in on the rest of the story.

Today I was helping out with preschool at Tiffany's house.  I had Gwen (who is about 14 months old) with me. Sean is obsessed with Gwen, and is unable to keep his ungentle hands to himself, Gwen did not nap well and was cranky, and I can't let Gwen have her binky because Sean will steal and hide the binky when my eyes are not focused on him.  Oh yes, let's do these crafts and educational stuff while all this other nonsense is going on.  Ha.  It was a rather frustrating day, and I was glad when preschool was over.  

I was in the middle of feeding the kids lunch when Tiffany called.  "Have you seen my keys?" she wanted to know.

Oh dear.  Gwen LOVES keys.  I vaguely remembered Gwen over at the entry table trying to grab the keys left there.  But I could not remember seeing them going anywhere.  She was only there for a moment, because she followed me to Tiffany's room while I was setting up the play and pack for nap time.

Tiffany frantically called two more times.  Were the keys in the diaper bag?  Did they come home with me?  No.  Where else was Gwen playing?  Um... It seems like she was mostly attached to me when she wasn't napping.  I had no idea where the keys might have gone.  I racked my brain, and felt awful.  Tiffany couldn't go volunteer in her son's classroom today, because I am responsible for losing her keys.

Fast forward to tonight around 6 pm.  I was out of town buying gifts for upcoming birthdays.  Walking out of Target, I reached into my purse and pulled out.... not my keys.  

Tiffany's keys.  They do look rather like mine.  How on earth did they get into my purse?  I had stashed my purse in the car, and only brought in the diaper bag when I was at Tiffany's house.  I was perplexed, and doubly ashamed.  Meet Danae, the Worst Friend Ever.

I texted her.  "So, I found your keys.  Can I bring them by later?"

Two hours later, I was on Tiffany's doorstep.  By then, I had more or less figured out how the lost keys ended up in my purse.  I think Gwen had them when she came into Tiffany's room, and I had taken them from her when I put her down for a nap.  I tucked them away into my hoodie pocket (after all, they looked a lot like mine), and promptly forgot about them.  Then when it was time to go, I looked for my keys in the diaper (because that's where I left them), and went on my merry little way.  And later, when I felt Tiffany's keys in my pocket, I dumped them in my purse without really looking at them.

I stood on Tiffany's porch, freezing without my coat, with my explanation and an apology.  Tiffany said she was glad this happened.  While tearing her house apart, she found her missing phone.  And she could stop feeling guilty for forgetting to feed our cat while we were out of town 7 years ago, when the cat was permanently MIA when we got back.