Someone once told me “Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get”.
Although this was Tom Hanks and he wasn’t really talking to me, I was moved. This experience has ever since made me realize that there are many events in life that tend to get me down and I won’t ever really know when they are coming, but I can definitely spit them out if don’t enjoy their gooey centers.
This lesson in life’s spontaneity, has helped me accept the fact my plans can be altered with the flutter of an eyelash, a half blink of an eye, or over the course of unloading a hamper full of clean laundry from my car.
Okay, so first of all, I had only been gone for 3 minutes… I know this because I checked my radio when I left the car, and I also checked my microwave clock in my apartment when I left; which are synchronized for reasons you really don’t need to know why or how. Prior to the decision to park slightly into the yellow zone marked for a fire hydrant to unload my laundry from my car, I had been driving around for 30 minutes waiting for the bozo parked in the 15-minute loading/unloading area (there is only one spot) to move his car (which no one was to be found loading or unloading and might I note, I had noticed him parked there when I left 5 hours ago). Now, I know I was driving for 30 minutes because OPB was on when I turned onto my street and “In House” had just reached its 2nd hour mark as was noted by Jeremy Petersen. After circling around and finally parking with hazards flashing so as to indicate that I would be right back, the 1 hour mark had shifted to a final half hour mark.
The diligence of Portland Parking Officers is amazing. To ticket a person within 3 minutes and be nowhere to be seen is incredible! But, alas! What an injustice as I had made a parking violation for 3 minutes whilest our nemesis, Mr. White Jeep Grand Cherokee, has violated the law for over 5 hours (who by the way, was STILL parked there a good 3 hours after I got home) and gets off ticket-free! And might I add, he has no parking permit, meaning he should not be parked on this “Parking By Permit Only” street in the first place and really is inhumanely rude to take away the usage of the 15-minute loading/unloading spot. It is because he violated this space that I got ticketed in the first place.
Now really, what can I do to get out of paying a ridiculous parking fine? I can contest in writing but in all honesty, I am totally guilty. I parked in a yellowish area next to a fire hydrant with my hazards on, in lieu of walking 2 blocks in heels carrying a hamper, the size of me, full of clothes.
So what does this have to do with Tom Hanks and chocolate and spitting out the gooey centers that I don’t quite agree with? Well, life takes some unfortunate twists and turns which can result in uber frustration with the law, parking officers, and Mr. Jeep Grand Cherokee. So with a grain of salt, sometimes, I just need to embrace these little happenings and take into account some lesson learned.
But as a side note and with really no relevance to anything at all: it did feel good to sit out on my balcony, in my pajamas, popcorn in hand after calling a tow truck at 2am to watch Mr. Jeep Grand Cherokee finally move from the 15-minute loading zone.