The Parking Place – A True Story
In 1989, on the spur of the moment, I decided to take a trip to California to visit family. The niece with whom I was staying had a full-time position, at the time, and so, was at work all day. Her sister, who lived in another part of town, asked me if I’d like her to pick me up and we could go out for a nice lunch and spend the afternoon together. Sounded like a plan.
We drove past several good restaurants that she had mentioned, only because there was no parking to be had on any nearby streets. Then, circling around the block, we saw a perfect parking place that had only one hitch: there was a huge potted Cactus plant sitting in the middle of the parking spot.
My niece turned to me and said, “Would you mind stepping out and moving that plant to the sidewalk?” I did as she asked, and she parked the small car. I was bemused and said, “I can see sunning one’s houseplants, but gee whiz, why not just use the sidewalk?” I was waiting for her to tell me exactly what I suspected was going on, and she did. From past experiences, she knew that someone was apparently attempting to save their “space,” by this method.
Well, we both started walking down the San Diego sidewalk, heading toward the restaurant, amid gritos in Spanish from an upstairs apartment window. My niece said, “Look straight ahead and whatever you do, don’t look back.” So, following her orders, I did just that. We marched to the restaurant and had a lovely lunch, in spite of my nervousness at the “incident.”
In big cities, people will resort to the dangdest things.
I have fond memories of that visit, and luckily, when I returned home, my employment situation had evaporated and I no longer had a job working for someone else. I have always wondered if the demise of my office work was related to my landing in the hospital as soon as I returned home, or perhaps the postcard I sent from Mexico, saying that I was having a great time, and it would be surprising if I was seen there again!
There are always hidden blessings in life and they always come along when least expected. Sometimes, what we interpret as a problem, is really not an issue at all, but one that actually can lead to an improvement in one’s life. The key is to “never look back.” That has always worked for me!
I still chuckle when I think of struggling with that Cactus plant and moving it out of the way. Besides monkeys, humans are the funniest things on the planet, and perhaps not all that different.
Patricia
