Hands- Free Parenting

Hillary and I were riding down the interstate, sipping our Sonic drinks and singing to Kate Nash when it happened.
Her phone slipped off her lap and down in between the seat and the console.
She reached for it, but barely touched it with the tips of her fingers.  So she did the logical thing.  No, I don't mean waiting until we got home so she could move the seat back and retrieve it.  I mean she pushed and wriggled until her hand wrapped around the precious piece of plastic.
And like the monkey who reaches for the fruit cleverly placed in the tree trunk trap, she was caught.
"Mom, I can't get my arm out."
Whatever.  She was laughing and pulling halfheartedly on the apprehended appendage.  Surely she was joking.  After all, she got her arm IN there...so surely she could get it back OUT.
I kept driving.
She grunted and tugged and tried pushing her arm forward, then back.  She started to move the entire seat up a bit, but cried out when that caused pain.
Her laughter was turning panicked.
Our exit was in sight.  I pulled onto the ramp, then over to the side of the road and threw the car in park.
By this time there were tears.
I went around to the passenger side.
Leaning over her 18 year old body, I tried all the things she had already tried...to no avail.  The whole time she was offering not helpful suggestions.  No, I assured her, water would not help.  No, I didn't have any lotion.
She found a bottle of hand sanitizer in the cup holder and squirted it on her arm.  Which did nothing but make her arm stuck AND germ-free.
I grabbed the edge of the seat with my fingers, planted my flip flops in the gravel of the road shoulder, and PULLED with all my might...meanwhile grunting to her to try pulling her arm straight up.
No good.  I considered...fire department?  Police station?
I stood up, wiped the sweat from my brow, and said, "OK.  Look at me.  Tell me exactly what you did to get your arm INTO that spot."
"I just kept wriggling until I felt my phone."
"Alright then," I said.  "Keep wriggling and moving your fingers as you pull..." And I did my SuperMom trick of pulling sideways on the seat frame again.
And a minute later...she was free.
She cradled her now-creased arm and I got back behind the wheel.
Thank goodness at least one muscle in my body is strong (the one in my skull).  Cause I'm gonna need it to be a "hands-free" mama!