Don't even THINK of... Today we got a little reprimand letter from the co-op leadership, explaining that there has been some abuse of visitor parking spaces in our parking lot. (Everyone has one reserved spot, and then there are a bunch of unreserved.) It wasn't us, since we only have one car. And yet... I know I get super-territorial when someone's parked in our spot, or parks in the middle of the driveway and blocks our spot.

Gets me thinking... K's and my first apartment, in Bradford, Massachusetts, was on-street parking only, but there was a driveway next door, and every weekend we'd wake up to hear the owner of the driveway honking at whoever, in their ignorance, had parked there, and once they moved it, saying, "Next time I'll have it towed!" We had met him while our moving van had blocked him accidentally, and learned that lesson quickly.

My father and I once lived in a house where we shared the driveway with a neighbor. Again, there were little parking wars, which, even to a selfish teenager, seemed petty. For instance, our neighbor would get up in arms that my dad would park in the middle of his two spaces in order to avoid a puddle. Dad would get up in arms that one of our neighbor's spots was essentially in the middle of our back yard. Then, our neighbor moved out, Dad grabbed the back yard space... and started to get miffed that the new neighbors parked in the middle of their spaces to avoid the puddles.

I hope, at least, that I wouldn't be that short-sighted today--hey, what's that? WHAT THE HELL? I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAVE TO UNLOAD YOUR WHEELCHAIR-BOUND GRANDMOTHER! I MIGHT NEED TO GET OUT OF MY SPOT! YES, I'M GOING TO BED BUT THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! THE OLD LADY CAN WALK FROM A VISITOR SPOT JUST LIKE THE REST OF US! Excuse me, sorry about that. Where was I? Ah yes--I wouldn't be so short-sighted, and I would show a little compassion.