When I was 16 and taking Driver's Ed, the scourge of the whole course was parallel parking. I thought then that I would NEVER use it so it was pointless to learn how to do it and then to know that if I blew it on the exam, I could fail. So, I practiced. My Dad set up two poles for me and set them on the street so I could try to make the perfect parallel park between them. I passed my driver's test, squeaked enough points out on the parallel parking to be marginal. And when I drove away with my new license, I still figured I would never use parallel parking. Then I moved to Duluth and lived on a one-way street and often had to parallel park.
While I honed my skills in Duluth, a lot of time has passed and my skills have gotten rusty. Now I work in Stillwater and there are times when I have to park on the street or downtown and I need to refresh my skills.
One day, I was attempting to parallel park my mini-van in front of the building where my client lived. I must have tried 3 times before I just gave up and found a spot I could just pull into. I didn't think much of it until my client told me, "I was really pulling for ya when you were parking out there." He saw the whole thing. I laughed it off but I grew determined to once again become a parallel master. I have had many more opportunities to try. Most unsuccessful attempts with the results of crooked, unparallel parks, hitting the curb and a narrow miss with a very, shiny and new Audi.
On Friday, ironically, I pulled up in front of the same client's apartment. On this day, I nailed it! It was so beautiful, I almost wept. I did let out an excited "YES!" and if it were possible, I would have given myself a high five. My skills are coming back. Just like riding a bike.
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