Lost in the dark

I'm going to start this post off by reassuring you that I was not lost in the dark. We just started having yoga classes at my school. The yoga classes are for anyone in the community, but they are held in my school building (actually starting tomorrow they will meet in my classroom). It's a small community )not counting the 230 or so boarding students, it's a town of less than 500 people, accessible only by bush plane) and so like any small community (at least in rural Alaska) the school is the lifeblood of the community. I had only done yoga once before, a little more than 13 years ago and it was in Chinese. I'm not the biggest fan of yoga (although actually I did rather enjoy it last night), but this is the only group exercise class here in Galena (we do have a swimming pool though so I do lap swims Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and now Yoga Tuesday and Thursday evenings).
By the time yoga ended we were approaching dark (next week when we are no longer on daylight saving time it will definitely be dark before yoga ends at 6 pm) and I needed to talk to the custodian and gather up my things before starting home on my four-wheeler. I put on my winter gear (coat and rain paints - because it isn't cold enough for my snow pants yet) since the temperature was somewhere in the teens and then went outside to start my four-wheeler and get it warming up while I finished putting on my gear (hat, gloves, scarves). I then drove about 2-3 miles home.
When I got home I reached in my pocket for my keys and they weren't there. Panic set in. I raced back to school thinking I had probably dropped them in the parking lot when I pulled my gloves out of my pocket. Unfortunately, it was mostly dark by the time I got back to school. I looked through the parking lot, but couldn't find them. I went back into the building (which was still open because there was middle school basketball practice going on in the gym). The custodian had closed my door when he finished so I couldn't get into my classroom, but I share a back porch with two other classrooms. One has the entrance directly across from mine and was clearly locked so I went to the other on. That teacher had a post-it note on the door which said not to disturb him unless you were his wife. Obviously, I'm not his wife, but I walked in anyway. He was apparently taking part in a webinar or something. I simply told him, "I know I'm not your wife, but I can't find my keys" as I walked though his classroom, through the porch and then into my classroom. I checked my desk (hoping I'd simply forgotten to pick them up) and the drawer where my four-wheeler key had been (hoping I'd dropped them when I picked it up, but no luck.
I then started driving slowly back toward home checking for my keys. Part-way there I had some other thoughts of where they might be at school (I really couldn't figure out how they could have fallen out mid-route). I went back to school, looking once more in the parking lot before going back into my classroom (I had left the door cracked open just in case) and checked on the floor around my desk. I thought, "maybe I missed my pocket altogether." Still, no keys. I pulled the door shut and drove home at 10 mph searching the ground the whole way. The further I got the larger the pit in my stomach grew. I got home and knew I had to find our how to get a new key because I couldn't get into my apartment. I live in a building that use to be the officers' quarters when it was an air force base and the students from the boarding school live in the next building in what used to be the enlisted mens' quarters. I walked over the student dorms and explained what happened to the front desk and asked the lady working there if she knew who I needed to talk to. She did and his office was just down the hall (the answer was the director of residence life). By this point it has been more than an hour since I left school the first time. I'm cold, hungry (it's 7:20 pm), frustrated and depressed. Luckily, the director was able to find another set of keys (both front door and my suite), but he did have to walk over there with me (not that he complained a bit).
After I got into my apartment, I sent my principal a text message telling him that I had lost my keys. My heart was in my stomach. He never answered and I don't think I slept too well last night. This morning while I was swimming I could feel the tension in my shoulders. After getting to work I went to talk to my principal. He was really cool about it and really calmed me down. He asked me what keys they were and what they looked like and then told me we'd try to find my keys and if we didn't we'd get me some more keys. I still wasn't happy about losing my keys, but at least the panic subsided.
My principal asked me where I thought I had lost them and I told him that I thought they had probably fallen out of my pocket in the parking lot when I took my gloves off, but in the dark I couldn't find them. He said what I'd been thinking which was to check the parking lot once it got light again. Unfortunately, school starts at 9 am (I start work at 8 am) and this time of year it isn't light yet by 9 am. However, partway through first period he came into my classroom and tossed me my keys. I started to ask where he found them, but then I realized there was still snow and water on them.
I was so happy to have my keys back! What had started as a rough day became a good day. We had an early dismissal (at 2 pm) and then a community Halloween Carnival (in the school gym) from 3-5. I don't live in an area where people can go trick-or-treating, but apparently all the local kids go. One of my friends had invited me over to pass out candy at her place, but after yesterday I was too tired and so I didn't go (plus I'm presenting about China tomorrow night and so I will have a really long day tomorrow and still have to finish preparing my presentation).