Thank Goodness for Neighbors

In order to appreciate this story I have to set the stage for you.

Last week I got a parking ticket. I went to pick Aiden up at school and parked in an "unmarked" crosswalk. Unmarked? Shouldn't that just basically mean non-existent? I feel like I had plenty of good reasons to be there; it was unmarked for heaven's sake, but that's not the point of my story today.

So basically up here in Queen Anne there are little narrow streets and there's never enough parking. That's how it is by our house as a matter of fact. Houses around here don't have driveways, which was really weird to get used to. Everyone just parks out on the little narrow streets. So narrow that it only allows for one-way traffic. If I'm coming up the hill and someone is already coming down the hill I have to stop, pull over (or hope to find a place to pull over) so the other car can get by. Then I can proceed. Oops, I'm getting off track...narrow streets are also another story for another day too.

So anyway, I just paid my parking ticket yesterday. And when I came home last night there was no place to park...grr...all these students who park on residential streets!! So I slid the car into a spot at the end of the street, right on the corner. "Could this be an unmarked crosswalk," I asked myself?

There was a sidewalk there, but there wasn't a sidewalk on the other side of the street so I thought to myself, "There's no way this can be a violation of parking in an unmarked cross walk. There's not a sidewalk on the other side of the street."

Does that seem logical to anyone?

Well, apparently it's illogical to Seattle City.

So today I was at my desk. I had showered this morning and was dressed, THANKFULLY. No make up yet. My hair was in that semi wet-dry phase, you know? Starting to dry into that frizzy/straight combination. No elastic or clip was easily found so I did what any inventive mom would do...I took a hair pick, pulled my hair back and stuck the comb through the hair to make it all hold together. And oh ya, one more thing. I didn't remove my mascara last night so it "melted" down my face in the shower today and as Dr. Tom put it this morning, I had "black fangs" running down my cheeks.

So this the state I was in when I heard a knock on my door. And of course, it was at the worst time possible. I have been trying to get a very busy client on the phone for three weeks now and just a minute before the knock came, I finally had him on the phone.

I went to see who was knocking. If it was the Schwan man I was just going to pretend like no one was home. But it was my neighbor, Tracey. I pointed to my headset so she could see I was on the phone. She mouthed "ticket" to me and pointed down the street to my car.

At this point she had my full and undivided attention.

Rats! Could this be any worse as far as timing goes? I finally get Alberto on the phone and now this is going on. I swing open the door and spot the parking cop down by my car, getting ready to whip out his little electronic device from his hip to give me a ticket. Dang it.

I just missed the last 30 seconds of whatever it was Alberto was trying to tell me. I jump into the conversation and say, "Hey, I've gotta go. I'm about to get a parking ticket. Let me call you back." I ripped the headset off my ear, threw it into the kitchen and went running down our pokey, rocky sidewalk in bare feet to try and catch this parking clown in time. (Can I just say I am so glad I had a bra on this morning!)

As I hopped down the sidewalk trying to avoid stepping on the pokey pebbles I remembered my current state. No make up, semi wet hair pulled back with a pick, and the most embarrassing part, black fangs streaking down my cheeks.

I think just the sight of me must have immediately said to Mr. Cop, "Please, have compassion on this freak show."

Luckily, I was able to talk him out of giving me ANOTHER ticket since I was just busted last week for the same violation.

So Tracey, I am giving you the "Good Neighbor of the Day Award." Thanks for saving me an extra $38 bucks. Now, I've got to figure out how to get Alberto back on the phone....I hope it doesn't take me another three weeks!