Sitting on a bench in the Dream Park while your keys are locked in the truck gives you a while to reflect at a good number of things.

I’ll give you a for instance – like how stupid you feel after locking your keys inside the truck.

See, I’d already had to borrow the truck because my car died on Christmas Day. (It will turn over, but it won’t crank.) So my frustration level at the automobiles in my family was pretty well up there.

And on Tuesday, I knew, I mean I just knew, that as soon as I heard the subtle click, I was caught.

We’d needed photos for today’s front page, so I headed out to find families enjoying the day’s sunshine.

As I pulled into the parking lot of the Dream Park, I saw that I’d hit pay dirt. There were moms, dads, nanas, grandpas and kids everywhere.

I had leaned back into the truck to get my camera, straightened up and reached to grab my notebook that was laying on the toolbox; however, just as I turned to grab my pad, my hip grazed the door, knocking it closed.

“Snap” went the lock and my patience.

And the kicker, the door wasn’t even closed all the way. You could still see daylight through it. I knew all I needed was a coat hanger, and I could take care of this problem myself.

I was wrong.

One of my lovely fellow co-workers brought me said wire hanger, which was too short to make it the lock from the outside.

So then I proceeded to call every person I could think of that might have a solution to my predicament.

First off, let me say a special thank you to Operator No. 5 at 911 who sent the ever-so-helpful Mr. Palmer to my rescue.

In less than a minute, he had the door open, and we were on our way.

Secondly, aside from the frustration of the event, it gave a reason to stop and pause and reflect just how fast I had been going.

If I had taken the time to gather my thoughts before getting out of the vehicle, odds are I wouldn’t have locked the keys inside it.

On the flip side, if I had pushed away from the table once or twice my hips wouldn’t have been big enough to knock the door closed.

You choose, but I think I’m going to go with the idea that if we all slow down a bit in this world, we just might realize the benefits of slowing down, taking it easy and sitting on a park bench listening to the birds.