Wheels

I had to do some research at Duke yesterday. I went after dinner and took Lily along with me for the ride. I sold it by her being able to play with my iPod touch. Of course, parking is always at a premium at a college campus. Duke has a couple of circles in the long road leading up to the chapel. I found a spot and wedged the little Civic in there. I asked someone near his car parked in a similar spot if I'd be OK and he thought I would be.

It turns out that I was in a fire lane because I got a ticket. It was just a warning ticket though. It did tell me that next time my car would be towed. This made Lily very nervous. We had to spend about 10 minutes talking about this. She wasn't quite in tears, but she did keep saying, "next time you should park where you usually do." Normally I park in the parking deck for their clinic, but it is a good 5-10 minute walk from there to the library and I didn't want to spend that kind of time with Lily in tow in the dark.

Lily's anxiety about this reminded me of the time my mom and I were driving back from the Browns' playoff game in January of 1981. Mom got a little distracted and accidentally got on I-480 W at the split near the airport. I saw the signs for Toledo and was crying because I thought we were going to end up in Toledo. She got off at the next exit (incidentally, this is where we get off to go to Uncle Chris and Aunt Krissy's house), turned around, and got us back on track for home. It was still a lot for my 7 year-old mind to comprehend though. Amanda told me that I shouldn't have mentioned towing to Lily. In retrospect I think she's right.