Adventure in my Grandparent's Bathroom - 52 Weeks

Former home Dick & Margie Roos taken June 1994 by J. Richard Roos.
Cheney, Washington. It's pretty much as I remember it was when I last was there in 1977.

This is part 2 of a 3 part series about my grandparent's home. Yesterday I wrote about their very cool basement. Today, I'll tell you  about a little adventure in their bathroom when I was about five.

One summer day after using Grandma and Grandpa's only bathroom, I found myself locked in. I'm really not sure how that happened but I couldn't open the door to get out. So I called out to the family through the window that was over the steps leading to the back door. Everyone was on the patio which was just beyond the steps and a conference convened at the bathroom window.

Old House Parts

After demonstrating that the vintage lock was jammed and not allow me to turn the glass door nob and open the bathroom door, the search for some rescue supplies began. I'm not sure if someone tried unlocking the door from the other side with a skeleton key, which were in abundance in Grandma and Grandpa's home. I've always wondered about that...but I have to assume they tried this and failed.

So, I waited in the bathroom and visited with whoever was hanging with me at the window. I probably stuck my head down the laundry shute and asked if I could escape that way. I always wanted to do that but was strictly forbidden...

Eventually Grandpa returned with a very long dowel or something that would reach the length of the bathroom. He always had stuff like that around. He had carved the end to fit over the jammed latch and made it a game for me to guide the dowel securely over the latch and help him turn it to unlock the door. Wouldn't you know it worked! I was free!

I was told later that the entire ordeal was made out to be a game so that I wouldn't panic. Dad and Grandpa were really good that way and it worked.

Amy Coffin's series, 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is a series of blogging prompts that "invite genealogists and others to record memories and insights about their own lives for future descendants."

© 2011, copyright Michelle Goodrum