GETTING A PARKING SPOT RIGHT UP FRONT – When I was in elementary school, I lived right across from my school. I mean, literally, right across. I could hear the first bell ring and then tie my shoes and grab my bag before heading out when the second bell rang. My parents certainly knew what they were doing when they moved there. When it was time for junior high and high school, I was still a walking distance away. I would throw on my ear phones and listen to Les Miserables for the twenty minutes it took to get to school.
My kids, however, are in an elementary school that required a bit of a drive. I was new to the whole ‘picking your kids up from school game’ when I arrived that first day and found not a single spot within a four block radius. So the next time, I arrived fifteen minutes earlier, now half an hour from the bell. And guess what, not a single spot was available. I was flabbergasted. On the third day of pickup, I came forty-five minutes early. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES early and finally found a spot. Who needs to come that early and sit in a car for that long to get kids? Can the children not walk a few blocks after school to the car? Have we really become that lazy? So normally I do the walk with them. We talk about our day, race along the sidewalk, and hold hands as we cross the street. However, the winter time is another story altogether. Toronto gets pretty cold in the winter, sometimes getting to minus fifteen or sixteen. It’s not pleasant for anyone. It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s windy, it’s miserable. So when you get a parking spot right in front of the school – THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING!