Assignment 1 -- Heidi Ertel -- The Despair of Lost Keys

When I arrived home a few nights ago, I happened onto a scene much like the one in this picture.  On that day, my roommate had an important assignment due that made up a lot of her grade in one her classes.  She had left her laptop home and planned to come back after work and classes and look it over one last time before submitting it.  Unfortunately, when she got back to our apartment, she couldn't find her keys and no one was home, and our manager's office had closed for the day.  In her desperation, she completely turned out the contents of her purse hoping to find her keys.  Instead, of finding keys, she found wrappers, receipts, makeup, various pens and pencils, medication, her wallet, lotions, sunglasses, her uncharged phone--pretty much anything and everything but her keys.  Thinking she was going to fail her class because she couldn't get in the apartment, she slumped against the wall in hopelessness and despair.  And that's when I found her.  I was able to let her in the apartment with about 10 minutes left until her assignment was due so she could submit it.  Luckily, in her haste, she had left all of the contents of her purse scattered on our front porch, and remembering her many emotions, I asked her to help me recreate that emotionally charged moment as a favor to me for saving her from the despair of lost keys. 

Losing your keys seems like such a small, insignificant thing, but as my roommate so beautifully portrayed, it was a lot more than that.  Losing her keys could have changed her life for years.  It's in the small things that we usually find the most meaning.