Lessons in Parking and Humility

It might have been the severe angle, or the unsolicited assistance proffered by the wife, but my first attempt to parallel park was a failure. Not a minor misjudgment. 30 seconds into the effort I had formed a perfect perpendicular, with my car's nose blocking the only entrance lane to the memorial chapel. My second attempt was only nominally better.

It was then that a man named Murray appeared at my car window. He explained that while he was certain I was a terrific highway driver, it appeared that parallel parking had not been my college major. I accused Murray, who would be attending the same memorial service, of being from Brooklyn. He countered that he was from L.A., but had always aspired to be mistaken for a New Yorker. I congratulated him on his ascendancy to the BIG CITY.

After consoling me with the thought that my aging process might be the problem, Murray offered a solution. He was parked in the space behind the one I had failed to negotiate. He suggested that I cease my efforts and drive around the enter/exit circle, while he advanced from his space, which flowed directly in from the entrance. Hence, I would not need to put the car in reverse.  To the cheers and laugher of my wife were now added directions to the circle that I was still partially blocking.