How not to park

Some days my biggest accomplishment is making other people feel better about themselves. Yesterday coming home around lunchtime, I couldn’t back the truck into the driveway to save my life.  (I’m going to say it, though: it’s my husband’s truck. THIS is the reason I drive a Fiat.) 

I backed up, turned the truck off, got out, and realized how crooked it was. I could have ignored it, but sometimes Erik and I sit at the kitchen table, look out the window and giggle about how crooked our neighbors park in their driveway across the street. (Erik even makes fun of them for pulling their truck forward into their driveway. He thinks REAL truck drivers always back into parking spots. He even backs into parking spots with the Fiat now wherever he goes. I guess it’s a pride thing.) Not wanting to be the butt of our own joke, I got back in the truck and tried again.  Turned it off, got out. 

It was even worse! Sigh. The problem is I get all turned around when I try to use that backup camera. Whichever way I turn the wheel is always the wrong way. I can do it with mirrors, I swear. I just have to adjust the side mirror ALL the way down so I can see the edge of the driveway down there. And one time when I was doing that, I got a little too focused on my positioning side to side and forgot to see how close I was getting to the garage door behind me. Whoops. For the record, I did NOT hit the garage. But I got close enough that when Erik saw my parking job, his eyebrows shot up and he had to bite his lips while figuring out what not to say. 

I got in, started it up, and tried again. Forward, backward. Engine off. Got out. 

Now one of the tires was actually hanging off the edge of the concrete. Give me a break! I might even be able to get over my embarrassment if Erik saw this, but his parents were coming over for dinner that night. And I didn’t want to hear any comments about how I parked from them. I guess it’s a pride thing. 

Back in the truck. Pulled forward. Reverse. Truck off. Got out. 

Somehow the tire was hanging off the driveway MORE now than it was before. I have no idea what’s wrong with me.  I wasn’t making progress. 

Something inside me snapped. I decided, right then and there, I needed to start fresh. Drive away somewhere and come back later to try again. I looked toward the neighbors’ house and realized their driveway was empty. I remembered that the lady who lives there, Sallie, is still in the hospital. Done! I would go visit her! 

I grabbed lunch and then hopped back into the truck and drove to the hospital. 

While I was visiting Sallie, a nurse came in to take her vital signs, so I had to fill some space by talking while she had a thermometer in her mouth. I confessed to her that the tipping point of my decision to visit was my sudden incompetence at parking. 

“Oh, girl.” she said with a smile. At least she understands me. She might be an even worse driver than I am. Sometimes Erik and I wake up in the morning and see that her little sedan is parked with one tire fully in the grass beside their driveway. It always makes me feel better about myself somehow. And it makes me love her more. 

Sallie’s husband Bill came in with some smuggled fast food for her, and another nurse showed up to do some work, so I took off. But not before we had made some small talk about neighborhood parking. 

Later that night I was sitting in the front room eating dinner with my husband’s parents, telling them the story of my parking failure and how I tried to redeem it by visiting Sallie. Suddenly Erik’s eyes got wide as he looked toward the window. I followed his gaze and my eyes got wide, too. His parents twisted around in their chairs to see what we were gawking at. 

It was Bill, slowly backing his truck into his driveway for the first time we’ve ever seen him do that. I guess my failure gave him courage to try something new. Like I said, some days my biggest accomplishment is making other people feel better about themselves. And it’s worth it! 

What do you struggle with? (Scroll down for comments!)