Cars, Christmas, and the Parking Spot
That Wasn't Meant to Be
| Cars, Christmas, and the Parking Spot That Wasn't Meant to Be |
During this season, the one between Thanksgiving and New Years, people are usually more helpful. It's true. Maybe it is the expectation of families getting together. Perhaps it is about Christmas cheer, having too many spiled eggnog drinks at the office Christmas party. The constant reminders of yesteryear, white picket fences, sleigh bells ringing, children building snow people in the freshly fallen snow. SMores. The sights, the pleasant smell, and cherished memories of Christmases gone by. Well, it's a great concept, but all it takes is a small spark between two individuals to ruin a well thought out Christmas.
It was a Saturday afternoon. I told my wife that I needed to run to the store to get some milk. I think she was suspecting something until I pulled the kids into the conversation, then she knew something was going on. Then again, if I told her, "Hey. I am going to the mall to buy your Christmas present.", I would be accused of ruining the surprise with Christmas, which would be an automatic one month of sleeping on the couch.
So, the kid and I are in the car, going to the local mall. The only time the mall is crowded is at Christmas. The once vast desolate asphalt parking lots are replaced with bumper-to-bumper cars. All of them going a nice three miles an hour, the smoke of the exhaust, and pushing down the snow on the ground into ice sheets.
The children were sedated with electronic tablets with connected earbuds. They had no idea where they were going. Most of the time, I would have a text in my inbox asking a question, but I 'm not using technology, going three miles an hour, and watching the exhaust from the cars shoot into the atmosphere.
AS I make a turn into the third row of a fifteen row parking lot, I notice out of the corner of my eye, a driver was getting out of a parking spot. Luckily, I threw it into revers , turned on my turn signal, and waited for the person to back out of the sspot. Onc I had clearance, I made the move. Just when my front left tire was to enter the spot, another car swerves aroiund the corner, blocking my access. By preventing my access, they did not have enough room to get in the space or back up as other vehicles were behind them. I couldn't enter the spot, nor could I back up, as the cars around me blocked my access.
I shout out the window a fre profanity-laden words that Deadpool would even be embarraesd to utter.
The person rolled down their window and said, "I got the space. Quit your blubbering!"
I retorted, "I had my signal on. In the International school of driving, that means that I have a claim to the parking space!"
The person in the other car started lining up profanity words like there was a contestant in a spelling bee. So, they were just throwing out the profanity, they were spelling the words at the top of their lungs like I couldn't hear it or hearing it for the first time. Trust me. I knew the words and spelling them out just made me think he was still in grade school.
It is expected, after you reach a certain age in life, that the usage of curse words no longer makes you cool. When you first hear profanity, it is usually from an adult, or in a 'Rated R' movie. Then, as a kid, you start incorporating those words into the lexicon of your own terminology. It is one of the rites of passage as a teenager. Even though you're not an adult ... you can sure sound like one.
But, when challeneged, people revert to forceful language because they do not have the maturity to speak at an organized manner. They go back to another time in their lives, like teenagers, when physical brawn was more important than intellectual brains to solve an argument.
As the driver of the other car and I exchanged insults and curse words, my kids are in the back of the vehicle, connected to their tables via earbuds, and not listening to the conversation. The other drivers started honking because they could not get through and their find their parking spots.
I yell, "I have this spot, and I can't get out of it until you back up!"
The driver responds, "I won't back up, because as soon as I do, you'll take the spot!"
Just then, I looked at the back seat at my kids and thought, "What kind of example am I setting from them?" Is it better to be wrong about the parking spot or set a good example for them?
I yell to the other driver, "You can have the spot! I have other places to go!"
I signal to the people behind me that I am backing up. After a few feet, then there is enough space for the other driver to get into space. As I turn the corner to check out the parking spaces in the next row, I hear the door slam, then a few seconds later a loud boom!
As I go around the parking aisle and pass the other guys car, the person backed up into space ... a little too much and took out the front bumper of the vehicle behind them. I pass around the corner slowly, look at the drive of the other car, and just smile as he is writing down his insurance information on a sheet of paper. Then, I see an open spot, pull in, get the kids out of the car, and head to the mall.
That's all for this episode of the blog. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks!
