Warning to the faint of heart: I am about to use the F word to describe a really maddening experience I had this morning as I drove into the Carthage campus. I was a little bit late because the County Executive of Kenosha County was late for an interview I had to record with him – so my excuse was fairly valid (it’s not like I was running late because I couldn’t tear myself away from Regis and Kathy Lee.) Nonetheless, I was driving on campus with about 90 seconds to spare before I was to be teaching my first lesson of the morning. But as I pull up to the parking area below Johnson Arts Center, I find cars crowded in every conceivable space – including places that are not meant for cars at all . . . and not a square inch open anywhere for me to squeeze in my little Honda. Surprised and irritated, I drove on up the hill and found that the main parking lot at the top of the hill was barricaded – and empty except for one single car- with a security guard on duty, making sure that no one parked there. Although I already knew the answer, I asked him anyway– What’s going on? And he gave the answer I knew was coming– Business Coalition Luncheon. There was a lunch meeting scheduled at 12 noon with some special guest to which business owners from the community are invited to attend. (Sometimes it’s somebody famous. This summer, for instance, one of the guest speakers was Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith.) And as always, the main parking lot at the top of the hill is set aside for the people coming to that luncheon. . . and they keep the lot completely clear all morning long, because chasing out already-parked cars to make room for the guests would be, of course, impossible. So here I was at 10:28, desperate for a parking place, and here sits a completely empty parking lot.
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here comes the F word I was warning you about. Several of them in fact.
Hold on to your hats. . .
I was FURIOUS.
I was FRUSTRATED.
It’s seems like a FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED plan.
It seems FOOLISH to let perfectly good parking places go to waste.
It seems to demonstrate FLAGRANT disregard for the convenience of Carthage faculty and staff (and students, too.)
It made me want to FRY someone’s butt.
Gritting my teeth, I left my car running in a handicapped space right outside of the Johnson building just long enough to run in and let Andrew Spinelli know that I was on my way – then ran back to my car, drove all the way back down the hill, out to Sheridan Road, and over to the commuter lot next to the baseball diamond. . . parked. . . and then made my way to the music building.
And as I made my way to the music building, I realized a couple of things which hadn’t occurred to me. . . I’ll call these my G Words.
It was a GORGEOUS day.
It felt GREAT to take an extra long walk on such a day.
It was GOOD for me, especially because I don’t get to Razor Sharp nearly as often as I should during the school year.
I should be GRATEFUL that I have two healthy legs and am able to walk that distance.
I am way too quick to GROAN when inconveniences come my way.
What seemed like a pain in fact was a GAIN, and that’s often the way GOD wants it to be in our lives.
I hope that next time something like this will happen, I will GREET it a bit more GRACIOUSLY.
pictured: I snapped a quick picture of the parking lot in question and the security guard standing watch – but didn’t want to be too obvious. (Just my luck, I would have been arrested for Disturbing the Peace.) So I actually pointed my camera back over my left shoulder as I walked away, and took the picture without even aiming the camera. And it turned out okay.