Lost in a Gated Community

Tonight Jeff and I went to visit some friends for a holiday party. Yes, I realize that it's August and there are no holidays on the horizon. The hostess' daughter came in from NYC and wasn't here at Christmas, so an impromptu holiday party was held in her honor. We stopped by Mike and Nancy's business yesterday just to make sure everything was still on and confirmed the code for their gate. We were already running late and had been warned that the gate could be difficult.

So, we pull up to the gate and Jeff puts in the code... nothing... he puts it in again and we get a recording that the number we've reached is no longer in service. Huh? Okay, couple more times and same results. Remember that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. It obviously is applicable to gate codes. We scroll through the list of residents, find our friends, call them and yep - we've been entering the wrong code! By this time, two cars have pulled up behind us and thankfully one is a resident so they get to go in through the special gate and the other car follows behind. We were tempted to do the same, but knew there wouldn't be time. Jeff enters the new code and still nothing. Again... nothing. Cars are behind us again, so we turn around. A guy in a truck asks us if the gate won't open and gives us a code to us. Tight security, right? Finally, we get in through the gates and after everything it took to get in, I thought we should at least see the great Wizard of Oz. We begin to go in the directions we were given to get to 213. We came by the 700s, nope that's not it. We find the 400s, still not right. Turn around. Suddenly, the car begins to ding and the words PWR STERING flashes on the dash. The flippin' power steering goes out on the car. We are laughing so hard at this point, we can barely breathe. We drive past the teens and begin to wonder how big is this place?!!! Ok, we are on to something - there's 201, 203, up a little bit and there is 209, 210, 300. WHAT???!!! Where did 213 go? I don't think we are at Kings Cross Station from Harry Potter and we have to get a running start to make 213 appear. I called Mike and asked him what their house number is. "213". I then ask him why the numbers go from 210 to 300. He then asks me where we are. I tell him that we are somewhere in Thornblade Crossing. He gives a small laugh and responds, "We don't live in Thornblade Crossing." Well NO WONDER the gate code wouldn't work. We had not completely lost our minds. They had lived there, but they moved some time ago to another complex. Once we finally made it to our destingation, we all had a good laugh about it, especially the fact that Thornblade Crossing still has them listed in the directory and it's hooked to Nancy's cell phone.

So please, if you move, just tell your friends!