Ask And It Will Be Opened

I LOVE the Yuletide season!  The season of light and miracles.  I have a recent little miracle of my own to report...

For awhile now I have been sharing an office space with a dear friend as a place to do my shamanic work. Last month I had scheduled a 2 hour Introduction to Shamanic Journey class there one Sunday afternoon.  I arrived early to set up the room for my class.  I slipped off my shoes and, rather than tuck them into my pocket as is my habit, I tossed my keys into one of the shoes.  I sipped on a cup of tea to help me calm down and center as I bustled around setting up the altar, smudging, and drumming in the directions to prepare the space for the class.  Once done with that, the tea did what tea does, and I left to visit the bathroom.

When I came back to the office I discovered the door knob would not turn. "Crap!" I realized I'd forgotten to unlock the door from the inside so that the door had closed and locked behind me, leaving me in my stocking feet in the hallway. This was exactly the reason for my previously mentioned habit of putting the keys in my pocket! 

I was really stuck.  I had no shoes, so I couldn't walk anywhere in the misty rain, and my car keys were inside with the office keys, so I couldn't drive anywhere.  The only thing I had was my phone, which was dangerously low on power (and guess where the charger was).  I called my office mate and got her answering machine, so I left an embarrassed message of what had happened and asking for any advice on what I should do.

I walked through the building at least three times to find myself to be the only one there.  Of course I was.  It was Sunday afternoon.  Looking around I found the phone number of the building manager posted somewhere, so as a last ditch effort I tried calling him, hoping maybe he lived near by and could open it up for me.  The first time I got his answering machine, but after another walk through the building I tried again and reached the manager's wife.  That was when I found out they lived on Vashon Island which was at least one ferry ride away across Puget Sound from Seattle.

I left my info with her anyway because she wasn't sure where he was, possibly in Seattle, but when he did finally call me back, he too was on Vashon.  Okay.  Not gonna come all the way over to rescue me. 

What he did do, though, was give me the phone number of the local locksmith that he uses, who should have a master key to the building, telling me to let them know he had told me to call.  Feeling increasingly embarrassed I called the locksmith to find out, via their answering machine, that if I were to have them come out, it would be an after-hours, emergency charge.  I hung up.  Who was going to pay for that?  I wasn't sure I could afford it, and I didn't want to stick my office mate with the bill, or get her into hot water with the building manager over it. 

What was I going to do?!  I seriously could not go anywhere or do anything.  My phone was almost dead.  Still I kept repeating to myself that, if what I really believe about everything always working out and happening for a reason, then there really was a completely harmonious solution. 

In frustration I stood up from the floor where I'd been sitting, leaning against the door.  I turned around, grabbed the door knob, and saying out loud, "Just please open!" I jiggled the knob and pushed...

...and the door opened.  It was still locked, but it was open. 

I stood there dumb-founded.  It wasn't like I hadn't already tried that.  I picked my jaw up off the floor and floated slowly, like I was dreaming, into the room.  I unlocked the door from the inside and, just as a precaution, retrieved my keys out of my shoe and slid them into my pocket. 

I retreated to the comfy reclining chair in the corner of the office, still shaking my head over the whole affair, and fell asleep under the weight of stress-induced exhaustion.  It had been between an hour and an hour and a half that I'd spent in the hallway, and I was relieved and grateful that no one actually showed up to take the class.

Interestingly, the only person who had actually signed up for the class had emailed me earlier in the day to say she couldn't make it because she couldn't leave her apartment.  She had lost her keys...