Parking

   This past Friday and Saturday I was privileged to strap on an orange vest, Muck boots, and receive a special dose of authority. Braving the cold and rain that October brought, I ventured out into the early morning light for a new adventure. For today was the day I was going to be directing cars where to park for one of our local festivals.
   Typically, they ask the public schools for kids to come out and park cars. No one signed up, even though the pay was great, you received free lunch and admission and it wasn't supposed to be super busy, unlike other years. The lady who directed it came over to our house, asking if my brother and I could help, and if we knew anyone who'd like to help as well.
   My mother sent out an email to our homeschool group. She received one response from a lady who said one of her kids could help. Mom said she could do it Saturday only, Dad and my brother said they could help on Friday only, and I could help both days. We also recruited one of my cousins for both days.
   So came Friday morning. I woke up at 6:15 and ate a bowl of Macaroni and Beef for breakfast. It was good. I had picked out my clothes the day before, so I wouldn't be running around like a nut trying to find clothes. A pair of leggings under a pair of black pants and a tee shirt under a long sleeved shirt with a winter coat over that. I pulled a hat over my head and socks over my feet. I stepped into my boots and got in dad's car.
   Mom picked me up a Starbucks Frappuccino at a convenience store, so I drank that. The lady assembled us and gave us places to be. I was assigned parking people in the first main lot with my dad, my brother and another boy. We formed a line and directed people to where they needed to be. Another girl joined us in the line as we worked. Parking people in the first main lot went fast. Once we filled that lot, we started in on the next field.
   When we switched fields, I lost track of my brother and the other girl who was with us. This was a bigger field with more space for us to mess up the lines. And mess up the lines we did. The first line we did went very crooked. We were starting to fix it when this crazy lady with a parking vest came and started directing everybody everywhere. I felt bad for the first car she did, because she was yelling at them and being a utter whack job. The boy we were working with actually went and apologized to them when she wasn't looking.
   Crazy Parking Lady might of lacked class, manners and tact, but she could park cars. She fixed the crooked lines and made it work well enough. After a while she left, and I didn't see her again. We broke for lunch and then returned to our post to find our positions obsolete. No one was parking in our lot. After that, we walked around the festival, saw what we wanted to see, and then after a while, we left. Some of my brothers friends came over for dinner, and by the time they left, the day was spent.
   Saturday morning was pretty much the same as Friday morning. I ate Macaroni and Beef for breakfast again and then dressed in the same clothes. Unfortunately, I forgot my parking vest so mom had to turn around and get it. Luckily, we weren't far from the house when we realized my memory lapse. I was assigned the same place as before and did the same work as I did on Friday. Everything went well. After we finished, we had go home immediately because we had a wedding to attend that afternoon.
   If I learned anything from parking people, it would be that people are ridiculously self-centered and rude. Everyone has their own opinion about how I should be doing my job. The one lady almost ran over my foot in her torrent of unkind words. Now don't think that everyone was a complete diphthong, there were kind people too, but the rude people made the job more interesting.
   Another thing I realized is how self-centered I can be. People would get mad at me for doing what I was supposed to so. I had orders to park everyone as close as they could be so we could fit more people in. People were so inconvenienced by pulling forward another foot. What? Did they think I was pulling them in there just for fun? So I could ruin their lives? No, I was trying to fit as many people as possible in. I was under orders. If I was in the driver's position, I could be irritated by something that stupid. But why? It wasn't a big deal. It was pulling in a few more inches. Sigh. It's really something to think about, isn't it?
   Overall, I hope I get to help with parking next year, because it's interesting enough to do and you receive people skills only difficult people can teach you. I enjoyed parking, got paid and learned something from it. What's better than that?