My best locked out story? Gosh…it’s nothing particularly interesting but I was locked out one time when I took the wrong keys…I drank a huge iced coffee and had nowhere to use the restroom on the way home. I had to wait a very painful hour (although if I was smart I would have driven to the nearest gas station or fast food place but I wasn’t thinking clearly so I called my husband and waited for him to get home).

My daughter and I were out for the day…she was somewhere around 28 months old, and we lived in Georgia. It was a beautiful spring day (read: warm, but getting hotter). We’d been out most of the morning and had lunch, and were heading home around 2:00 p.m.

I had a bunch of things in my car that I needed to carry in, so I decided to leave my daughter in the car and run that stuff in first. I threw my keys on the seat and grabbed my bags…NOT INCLUDING my purse, of course. And I reached down and automatically locked the door…and closed it. I didn’t even realize the keys were in the car. I got to the house and of course didn’t have my keys, and realized belatedly that they were on the seat…in the car…along with my DAUGHTER….and the temperature was already into the high 70′s…and we had no trees, so the car was in the hot sun! No problem, I’ll call hubs on the cell phone. OOOPS…purse is on the seat….WITH THE cellphone IN IT.

AAAACK! So, I run to the neighbor’s house across the street, since I know all the other neighbors are gone to work (and he worked nights). I had to pound for a good 10 minutes before I woke the poor man up. He was nice enough about it. He let me use his phone to call my hubby…..who didn’t answer either his cell OR his work phone…darn, I forgot he had a ceremony to go to (we are military – they TURN OFF their phones at ceremonies!).

So, the man let me have his phonebook AND his cell phone. We called the police and they came out quickly (due to the fact that a child was in the car). The county sheriff came out and he called out a locksmith…but it would be about 20 minutes. The sheriff had a blanket that he placed on the back window to block the sun and heat. My daughter, bless her heart, was FANTASTIC…she thought it was all a game! The sheriff played peek a boo with her for the entire 15 minutes while I tried in vain to get ahold of my hubby (though the locksmith would probably get there quicker than my hubby could).

Finally, the locksmith arrived. He jimmied the car lock and got it open, and I RAN to get my daughter out, none the worse for her experience. The sheriff gave her a high five, shook my hand and off they all went (and I didn’t have to pay for the locksmith, either).

The next day, we were getting ready for a doctor’s appointment. I got my daughter loaded into the car, but didn’t have the house locked this time…and I ran back in to get my purse and cellphone. But OOPS…I had left the keys on the seat of the car again. NO…I did NOT lock the door…but as I hit the porch I heard the familiar “ka-chunk” of the locks engaging. WHAT?!?!?!???

This time, I was able to get the info to call out the 24 hour roadside assistance, since I at least had access to the house! AND, it was early a.m., AND it was cloudy, so the heat wasn’t an issue. There was NO WAY I was going to call the cops again. My roadside assistance came out in about 15 minutes (they said normally an hour to 2, but since there was a child locked in the car….). When the locksmith unlocked the door, he said that the locks had been damaged the day prior and they they could lock by themselves on a regular basis, so either keep spares hidden and handy, or get the locks fixed.

Honestly…locked my kid in the car twice in less than 24 hours. Had I had a) a spare key, and b) access to the house key (or these great keypads) I could have gotten my child out.