by Nancy Linenkugel
Contributor
"Keep an eye out for a parking space, Nancy. You know the kind we need."
"OK, Grandma," I chirp eagerly as she slowly negotiates her blue sedan up and down the grocery store parking lot aisles. I’m in the front seat next to her, eagle-eyed, as she and I both fix our gazes on the parking prospects around us.
"There's one," I offer, and as we get closer I see that it's not the right kind. "Oh, sorry, Grandma, that's not what we want." Grandma agrees and we keep circling.
Finally we strike gold. We both spot it at the same time and Grandma skillfully tools into the desired parking space. Once the car is at rest in the space, we savor that moment. This is an accomplishment. "We did it, Nancy, and thank you for your help."
"You're welcome, Grandma."
As a nine-year-old and the oldest of her grandchildren, I often accompanied Grandma and had important jobs like helping her find a parking place. That was always a particular quest: not any old open parking space would do. It had to be a double or what we called a pull-through. You see, grandma wore thick, pop-bottle lenses in her glasses and her visual acuity was slightly compromised. She preferred a pull-through parking spot so that she could just drive out when ready to leave and not have to back out of the spot.
To this day, that's how I park in lots as well. Nicknaming the process, "finding a Norma" in her honor, I do the same exact thing today. I'll even back into spots in order to be in position to simply drive away when leaving. The ability to just drive out gives me more control once I get the car situated and then I don't have to worry about backing out of the spot later into impatient parking-spot-seekers.
What’s the most dangerous driving place in the world? Many would identify particularly accident-ridden highways or intersections. I think it's the local grocery store parking lot. Cars go up and down aisles in search of a parking spot, shoppers are exiting the store pushing carts or carrying their purchases, just-arrived customers are making their way into the store in a purposeful manner and often not paying attention to car traffic, and customers exiting the lot drive out at all speeds, even down a congested aisle. At every trip I see numerous close calls of persons backing out of spaces into the path of other cars, shopping cart and pedestrians. These backer-outers aren't looking.
I don't intend to become a parking lot statistic. Even if it means parking farther away from the front door to find my Norma space, I happily do that. Besides, my car is much less likely to be struck by a runaway shopping cart or dented by someone else's car door if it’s in the space less traveled.
There’s a story about a whiskey lover who was late for a meeting due to driving up and down a city street looking for a parking place. Looking up to heaven he prayed, “Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking space, I promise to go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and give up whiskey.” Miraculously, a parking space appeared. He looked up again and said, “Never mind; I found one.”
[Sr. Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.]