Last week, I put Dee to bed wearing one pair of ankle cuffs. The next morning, I took the keys and unlocked the first ankle. I had trouble with the second one. I figured it was just because I was not really awake. Our normal morning starts with the alarm (which she turns off), then I wake up and unlock her.

But that morning, I wasn't doing my part...I fiddled with the key for some time...finally she asked, "Is it stuck?" I thought she was imagining having to get the girls ready for school with an long ankle cuff chained to one leg...

I calmy said, "Yes, it's stuck." What else could I say.

She said, "OK." and laid back down. She was really thinking "Great...I get to go back to bed and let him deal with the kids this morning."

I set down the main set of keys and got one of the backup sets. When I tried a different handcuff key, the cuffs opened. It turns out that the Fury brand ankle cuff keys are slightly larger than handcuff keys, and in some cases they are not interchangeable.

The lesson is to test your keys before locking something on.

We put the ankle cuff key on our main key ring, and I marked the one side of the set that needs the larger key.