I could write about many adventures and travails in parking, but life isn’t fair when it comes to parking luck, or lack of it. This is where the good fairy of parking comes in. I’m painfully aware that the good fairy of parking hasn’t blessed me. I’m one of those people who cannot seem to find a parking space, or who must settle for one so far from where I’m going that I’ll need to walk from the next town. There have been times when I have given up entirely after searching for a half hour, and returned home.
Ever since I can remember, my mother could find a parking place anywhere.
But two people I know well have been blessed by the good fairy of parking. Ever since I can remember, my mother could find a parking place anywhere. To this day, she can drive to places in Berkeley, where it is notoriously difficult to park, and succeed. Most notable was a time shortly after we moved to California, when, for some reason, my mother and brother had to meet up with my father and me at a restaurant in crowded north Berkeley, so there were two cars. My mother blithely pulled into a space directly in front of the restaurant, while my father and I had to drive around for 15 minutes to secure a space.
The other blessed person is my longtime friend Marcia, who has a huge SUV and never has a problem parking, no matter where she goes. The most illustrative incident was a long evening in San Francisco, in the mid 1990s. Both of us were divorced and feeling adventurous, and we started by having dinner in a restaurant and then visited a series of discos and dance places until about 3 AM. I worried about the parking challenges, but at each place, to my amazement, Marcia parked that SUV in a large space, right in front of the door, thanks to the good fairy of parking.
So, while I can never take easy parking for granted, maybe in my next life I will be blessed by the good fairy of parking.
MarianI have recently retired from a marketing and technical writing and editing career and am thoroughly enjoying writing for myself and others.
Marian, I understand completely about the Good Fairy of Parking, and it was also my mother who was thus blessed.
She variably found the perfect parking space – right in front of the shop or restaurant or theatre or building she was visiting’
When asked how she did it, she said she simply “imaged the spot”! Go figure!
Well, talk about magical thinking, Dana … Good to know that other people have experienced the fairy.
We used to have a little Buddha that sat on the dash named Car-Ma—he was advertised as a help to find a good parking place (“with time on the meter!”) and a handy spot for storing quarters besides. We would drive around chanting “Car-Ma, Car-Ma” and more than once would find the spot we sought.
Love this, Khati. I sometimes refer to parking karma but your little Buddha embodies it. Thanks for the smile.
Mare, this is a great story, and I love your featured image! Great story about your family in 2 cars, and your mother parked right in front of the restaurant, while your father had to circle around for 15 minutes. I generally have pretty good luck with parking spaces, except in New York and San Francisco, which are really challenging. And trying to parallel park on a hill in SF is terrifying.
I agree about parallel parking on SF hills, Suzy, and try to avoid it at all costs. At least I know how to curb my wheels!
First, I LOVE your Featured photo. It looks like a cross between TinkerBell and something out of Angels in America!
I don’t think I’m particularly blessed in the parking karma (with a nod to Khati) department, but when I DO get a great spot, I always say to myself, “That’s what comes from living right.” So maybe, some of the pixie dust has rubbed off on me.
Yes, Betsy, the image could be one of “the better parking Angel” as well as a fairy. I like your saying about living right. Because I now use a handicapped placard, a lot of the angst over parking has gone away, except in San Francisco, where there are very few handicapped spaces.
I love this “good fairy” concept, Marian. Though I occasionally dip into magical thinking, I have never applied it to parking spaces. Probably the result of too many years in NYC; my mindset, like yours, is always the opposite. If there is a good space to be found, someone has already found it. And when I come upon any seemingly available space, my default assumption is that there must be something wrong with it.
Perhaps your mother or Marcia could wave her magic wand over me.
Believe me, John, I’ve tried to channel the fairy through both my mom and Marcia, to no avail, but who knows, one of these days might work. I agree about something being wrong with the space you do find, like a motorcycle or a shopping cart being in the middle of it.
I’m guessing the size of the SUV scared away other, smaller cars. It’s a Trump-era phenomenon.
Could be, Charles. Although now Marcia gripes about the gas mileage. I do not express sympathy.
And rightfully not, Marian. Off with their cylinder heads!
I also know people who seem to be blessed with the good fairy of parking, but not me. In fact, I often take the first spot I see that is reasonably close to where I am going, only to watch someone pull into an open spot (which I could have had) right in front of the place I’m heading. If I dare to try for a closer space, it’s never available and I have to circle the block again.
That’s my experience, too, Laurie. And now I think I have bad karma in grocery store checkout lines. Both places I went today, the people in front of me had 20-minute problems with the cashier, and people in the other lines flew past me (:-(.