Peeves

I dated this guy in '03. He was a nice person, intelligent, loved books and the arts. He was very considerate, opened doors, brought me flowers, all those things you think don't exist anymore. My kinda guy. He was a sleep technologist. Basically, he watched people sleep every night and determined if they needed aparatus for snoring, apnea etc. Apparently, he needed the same kind of gear when he slept. Although, I don't know that first hand, seeing how our relationship never progressed to that level. Part of the reason it didn't progress at all. He did, I didn't and well ya know...he said I was too much effort. I really did like him though. I just wanted slow.

Anyway, he had once had back surgery. At the time, a few years before we dated, he had applied for a temporary license to park in the physically challenged blue spaces. (I suck at the politically correct thing eh?) I only know all this because of a date we had. He took me to my most favorite restaurant, The Pine Tavern, located downtown, and then to the symphony in Drake Park. Now, downtown Bend is not your stereo typical "downtown". This is a small town, relatively, and everything is pretty close together. We are talking two main streets here. Parking for the restaurant lies not but a few feet away. He pulls into the parking lot and whips into a space. I glanced over at him, to let him know he just parked in the handicap, when he pulls out his little blue license. Oh, I thought, I didn't know he had one of those. Before I could say anything, he went into the story of why and the fact that he didn't need it anymore but they kept renewing it for him and he liked the convenience of good parking.

Yeah...and so do those who truly need it.

Tonight, my daughter and I made a trip to Wally world. I didn't get my clean up done today but I did manage to buy the stuff to kill off everything left in the parched desert that is my yard. When we were leaving, there was a young man making his way to his vehicle. On crutches, slowly pulling his legs behind him, paralyzed from the waist down. Rachel asked why he had parked so far away when there are spaces for him to use? "He is having a hard time Mama." The thunder storm hit hard tonight and the rain was smacking our faces. Perhaps they were all legite, but I looked over at the full spots and wondered if one of them just didn't feel like walking a couple extra steps, getting a little wet, or just liked the fact that they always had a "spot" just for them.