Sunday, November 13, 2011

What I Don't Do: Part 2

I don't parallel park.  There is something amiss in the spatial relationship department of my brain.  My worst fear would be having to parallel park a pick-up truck rigged up with a boat trailer along a public street.  In fact, just writing it down strikes fear in my heart.  I do remember my Driver's Ed. instructor giving us very specific directions and tips on how to effectively park in a parallel fashion.  During this very crucial time of instruction, I also remember becoming tremendously distracted by the new Dairy Queen that was being erected directly across from my high school.  Would I be able to dart across the four lane highway, order up a Butterfinger Blizzard, slurp it down, and run back to the school in the twenty-four minutes of allotted lunch time?  I became lost in my thoughts.  This is the only time I can recall where ice cream was a detriment.
Not so long ago, after shifting into PARK, I actually jumped out of the driver's seat of the momvan, scurried over to the curb, and waited for my sister to leave her back seat position and take over my parking responsibilities.  I didn't think this was a bad idea until I realized I hadn't communicated that thought to my sister.  She was still seated looking out at me from inside the van, wondering where I was going.  This is what I'm telling you: I don't perform this task under any circumstances.  I've been known to park twelve blocks away from my favorite spice store in the dead of a Minnesota winter just to avoid the dreaded deed.  If I can't slide up and just drive in, it's not happening.
I don't know if it's because I'm left-handed... but it seems like a decent explanation.

6 comments:

  1. I'm a decent parallel parker, though I must confess my skills come from practice that came about largely because of personal laziness--making a couple of attempts to get into a space is greatly preferable than walking 12 blocks to avoid it.

    My sister, however, is a confirmed non-parallel parker. Once, about six or seven years ago, I was in the passenger seat of her car and convinced her that she could parallel park in the only available space in front of the theater where we were waiting for our daughters. I told her I would talk her through it. About halfway through the process, the nose of the car angled out in traffic, having bumped the curb twice, she was completely exasperated and overwhelmed and she said, "I have NO idea why I let you talk me into this."

    I said, "Yeah, I couldn't believe you really went for it either." Needless to say, I laughed a lot harder than she did.

    We did eventually get into the spot. I just don't remember quite how.

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  2. I have been in more than one situation I wished later I wouldn't have been talked into - sometimes by my sister. However, like you, most of these situations ended up in a lot of laughter - don't know what I'd do without my sister! Just out of curiosity, are you the older or the younger sister?
    Thanks for your comments!!

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  3. I dont do this either. I firmly believe that some people have brains that just do NOT effectively do things that require spatial-relationship vision, and I'm one of them. I could never shave using a mirror, either. Thank God I'm a woman! I gave up on curling irons a long time ago, too, I just kept rolling the dang thing into my face or ear, my brain just doesn't 'compute'.

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  4. I am the oldest of four--two sister and then Baby Brother. The non-parallel-parking sister is the closest to me in age--there's only about eighteen months between us so we have a LONG history of me talking her into things she sometimes later regrets. (And an equally long history of me getting blamed for things she thought of all on her own.) How 'bout you?

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  5. I'm the younger sister - we are less than two years apart as well - your relationship with your sister sounds very similar to the one I share with my sister. I've been talked into stuff - she's been blamed just following my lead - I guess it all evens out in the end!

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  6. And Jill - I can't run a curling iron either!! :)

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