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“And the keys, they are in the car…with baby J inside?” my husband asked with surprise when I got him on the phone. “Uh-huh” was my feeble reply. It was my maiden voyage out with the two children by myself and a stop at the Farmer’s Market downtown had seemed like a great idea. It was -- that is until baby J locked himself in the car…alone. I had put him in the front seat so he could pretend to drive while I carried his baby brother around to the passenger’s side so he could nurse before we headed off for the market. I was busy congratulating myself on having successfully kept baby J happily occupied when I heard the unmistakable “click” of the locks engaging. My heart sank. How could I have been so stupid as to have him inside with all of the doors closed? Though the car was turned off, the keys were in the ignition so baby J could listen to Raffi. My purse was also inside so, alas no cell phone either. Terrific.

I never thought I’d be thankful for the smell of vomit, but in this case I was. One of the kids threw up sometime in the recent past unbeknownst to whoever was driving at the time and, despite considerable efforts, we still haven’t managed to find the source of the odor. As a result, I had the front windows cracked a good inch and a half. Thank Heavens for small favors. Some very kind passersby loaned me a cell phone to help track down my husband and second set of keys and the gentleman parked in front of me had a wire coat hanger that eventually did the trick. Thank you, thank you, thank you BR!

I’ve counted my blessings that it wasn’t 102 degrees out and that baby J was completely calm, nonplussed by the whole incident. I was not calm and still am not calm a week and a half later. Mortified by my stupidity, I am also deeply aware that it only takes an instant to go from a perfectly average morning to one that borders on panic or could even turn to tragedy. In one second with one flick of a tiny finger everything changed. I’m counting my blessings that all turned out well in the end and redoubling my efforts to think ahead because inevitably the unexpected will happen again.