The Must-Have Parking Space

Now, I know that we all try to find a good parking place whenever we go anywhere, especially in the summer when it's so hot (or in the winter, if you live somewhere that it actually gets cold.) But sometimes I think that quest gets a little ridiculous. And twice in the last few days people have gone out of their way to prove that point.

Yesterday my sister and I took our kids out to one of her local parks for a picnic lunch. It was beautiful, and we had a wonderful time flying kites, and feeding the fish, and just generally enjoying the day. But at one point we both just had to shake our heads and ask "Why would you do that?"

We couldn't quite fit everyone into one car, so we'd had to bring both. When we pulled into the very large (and completely empty) parking lot, I had chosen to leave an empty space between our vehicles. It just makes it easier when everyone has plenty of space to get in and out of the cars - and with no other vehicles around, there was no reason to crowd in right next to her.

At least, I didn't think there was, but apparently someone disagreed. About halfway through our lunch a guy in a big truck pulled into the still otherwise empty parking lot... and parked right between us. We were baffled, to say the least. We just honestly couldn't understand why he had to have that spot over all of the other empty (and I would think more convenient) spaces.

And what makes it even funnier is that a very similar thing happened to me just a few days before that. On Monday (as we were making our way to my sister's house) we stopped for a break at one of the rest stops just across the state line. Just like yesterday, the parking lot was completely empty when we pulled in. When we came out, we found this:

Sure, the guy in the truck was still in his space. But he was hugging the line pretty good, and making it so that we had to be careful when opening our doors to avoid hitting him, which is always a little irritating. And what made it even more irritating was the fact that the rest of the parking lot was still completely empty.

I just honestly don't get it. I find it amusing, to be sure, but I don't understand it. Ooh - maybe my car is just so awesome that people gravitate toward it! Yeah. That must be it.