Curb
I have parallel parked three, maybe four, times since my driving test. I perfected it for that test and then never wanted nor needed it again. For the inexperienced, the ability to accomplish this feat is dependent upon no one watching. So if you see someone trying, be courteous. Avert your eyes.
I dropped my daughter at guitar class and went to find a parking spot. The road isn’t normally busy, but there is a lot of construction in the area. The lots were all full, so I was demoted to street parking.
The first spot was available, so I went into it pretty confidently. I felt my tire bump the curb. It was surprising because I felt like my angle was really good. I pulled forward, scooted over a couple of inches and tried again.
I started to back in and the tire hit the curb again. Now people were piling up. I noticed someone in a parked car near me. Watching. Ugh. I pulled forward once more. Curb. What. The. Heck.
This is when I realized it was my front tire catching the elbow-shaped curb marking the front of the street parking. I quickly pivoted from anxious to embarrassed.
Sometimes what I think is the issue isn’t. The more stress kicks in, the more I commit to that wrong path. My attention reduces, things get harder, and my instinct is to double down on the same (wrong) path.
How can I reset in the moment? Can I pause to zoom out? Where am I doubling down on something I haven’t questioned?
Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.
Great lesson.
As a side note, not trying to brag, but “good driving skill” is very important to me, I take great pride in my ability to parallel park, and I taught my daughter to drive and thus passed on the importance of mastering that skill to her. I’m proud to say she’s nearly as good as me at that.
When I took my test for my CDL - I must admit, to me, I failed at the parallel parking of my 53’ long trailer with a full sleeper cab tractor (truck). My rear tires on the passenger (curb) side of my trailer were supposed to be up to 12” from the curb, but they were like 15” to 18” away. A failure to me, but I still passed my exam because of my overall ability throughout the rest of my exam.
After that I practiced parallel parking and general backing up every week until I felt confident. I once backed that tractor trailer combo 1/2 way up a NYC block, into a dual lane parking lot, then across to the far side of that 8-10 lane wide parking lot, into “my” designated spot. Quite a feat.
Summer plans - riding the Harley as much as possible - notably in the black hills with at least one of my brothers, a few weeks before the Sturgis motorcycle rally. I’m really looking forward to that trip!