When my keys fell into the bench, I knew that theoretically they could get out. I was walking along the street in front of a building that struck me by how grand architectural ambitions can sometimes fall short in accommodating real people. I feel philosophical every single day I wake up now. With the passage of time feeling less demanding, the forces of the universe flow through my days. I’ve come to see what could be considered failings as important opportunities to shape my destiny without the confines of schedules or calendars. This freedom has expanded my mind tremendously. I sat on that slatted bench, jotting notes during a phone call. As I pulled my keys from my pocket, they slipped through my fingers, disappearing through the wooden gaps. A neighbor from Urban Alchemy saw this happen and tried to help, saying he would be there for me when I returned with my toolbox. I stared at the bench, pondering probabilities. I knew my keys still existed underneath, but had no way to determine their precise position. Just like in quantum physics – existence is certain, but location uncertain until measured. I decided to go home and get my toolbox, though I didn’t know which tool would retrieve the keys. It reminded me of the uncertainty principle – knowing a particle’s position doesn’t reveal its momentum. My toolbox was filled with possibilities, but only opening it could collapse the probabilities into a defined outcome. When I returned, not only was the original Urban Alchemy neighbor present, but he and another from the organization had mysteriously freed my keys from where they were stuck. The actual solution was outside the set of options I had conceived, which only included using my toolbox. This incident continues to exemplify the strangeness of our universe. Even a mundane event like losing keys contains deeper truths about underlying uncertainties governing our world. There are always helping hands lifting us up, though the mechanisms behind remain a mystery. My keys could have remained stuck forever in a quantum superposition, like Schrodinger’s Cat – simultaneously fallen and retrieved. But an act of kindness from an unexpected source saved the day. It seems at times that we are all entangled particles, influencing each other’s realities in unseen ways. I’m thankful for the generosity of neighbors and lessons learned from poorly designed benches. The world continues to teach me that events unseen and uncertainties unmeasured can shape our lives in profound and unexpected ways. Just like the quantum realm, nothing is ever really certain or simple, even something as small as a set of keys.