Yesterday I did some damage to my driving karma. We went to Ikea for lunch (o glorious meatballs…), then promised the boys a visit to Legoland. Unfortunately, everyone else in Minnesota and Iowa decided that yesterday was a good day to visit the Megamall, and the parking ramps were chock full o’ cars.
While making my way across two lanes of incoming and outgoing traffic to troll the lot for a space, I was preparing the “Minnesota wave” for a little gray car that I thought was going to let me through. But when that same little gray car casually rolled, very slowly, across my path, my “Minnesota wave” turned into a one-finger salute directed at the two girls in the car.
I don’t normally make obscene gestures when driving. In fact, I’m usually a pretty calm and considerate driver, I think–I’m never going anyplace urgently enough that I feel the need to cut someone off, and I’m a big fan of keeping the crazy drivers in front of me and as far away as possible. So I really did feel bad about the finger, and was sure that the gods of parking would frown upon me. Luckily, I found a spot, and though my attitude toward humanity didn’t become any more charitable in the crowds, I vowed to repair the damage.
The chance came last night when Kelly came back from her walk. She had met a young man on 36th Street with a Saturn that wouldn’t start. She felt uncomfortable going back in the dark, so I took the Jeep and my jumper cables out into the slush. The young man was nice, unaccustomed to the jump-start process (inhale, positive to positive, negative to ground, exhale), and I was glad to get him rolling again. I advised him to drive around for a half or so to get the battery charged back up, and wished him a happy new year. I hope this puts a little mark in the positive column of my winter balance sheet–no doubt I’ll need a jump start myself in the coming months.
In unrelated news: I’ve put a little calendar project up on Lulu, a company I used for the boys’ Christmas gift to Granddad and Great Grammie & Great Grampie. It’s $24.95 right now, but I’ll be reducing the price as the months pass. Get yourself a copy–it makes a unique after-Christmas gift to yourself, and usefully lets you keep track of your life while looking at a few vintage camera pictures (Spotmatic, Argus, FED3, Lubitel, and Holga snaps are featured).
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