Check Your Surroundings

I pride myself on my parallel parking prowess. In fact, one of my jokey retirement job ideas used to be to buy a Segway and roll around DC parking cars in tight spaces for a nominal 5 dollar fee. I'd have an app of course, and when my business took off, I'd leverage my infrastructure, sell my start-up, and retire from my retirement. 

That's why I didn't hesitate at all when I saw that left-hand spot on the town green in Leonardtown. I pulled right up next to the pick-up ahead, cut the wheel, lined up my right taillight with the front head light of the car behind me, and hit the gas gently, but decisively. You can't imagine the twist in my stomach when I heard the sickening scrape of metal on metal. I cussed, braked, and looked ahead to assess the situation. 

It was only then that I noticed that the tailgate of the pick-up was lowered and out of my line of vision. When I eased into the space and hopped out to assess the damage, I saw that I had gashed the top front left panel of my car, sundering it from the lower panel and caving in the wheel-well trim. 

With a carful of hungry folks ready to have lunch and a fun afternoon on their weekend at the beach, I tried to shrug it off and look at the bright side: no one was hurt, the car was drivable, the truck was undamaged. Still, every time clouds covered the late March sun, I shivered in the chill, wishing for a do-over.