I got into a street fight* this morning

*By street fight, I mean a yelling fight with a stranger on the street.


Ok, blog readers, I need your suggestions.  I feel like this is bound to happen again, so if anyone has advice for how to proceed I'd love to hear it.

Background: In NYC, parking is tough.  Some ritzy buildings will put orange traffic cones out to block cars from parking in certain spots (like to keep the entryway to a building open).  While this tricks a lot of out-of-towners, they don't have the legal right to block a spot (in most cases).

Also, the spots that I'm talking about here are on the street, so I needed to parallel park--to back in, then pull forward.

The scenario: There is a diplomat loading/unloading zone near Maya's therapist's office. They put orange cones along the spots and a "No Parking" sign in the middle. The diplomats pull up (with their hazards on), get out, move the signs, and then park. With DD's parking permit, we are now entitled to park there, but I've been avoiding it because I knew there would be drama.

Today I can't find any other spots, so I pull up, move the signs, and start to back in when a guy appears out of the building and rushes behind my car with the sign and puts it down. I get out and this conversation follows:

Him: You can't park here, diplomats only.

Me: I have a handicap pass, I'm allowed to park here.

Him: No, I have people coming in all morning!

Me: I'm sorry, but I'm legally allowed to park here-please move!

Him: Well, you have to park there!!!! (pointing to the spot the furthest forward, as there is a row of 3 spots available)

Me: Ok, fine. I'll pull up. But you need to move out of the way so that I can back in first. Then I'll pull forward.

Him: No, you park up there!! (the front of the spot)

Me: OK! But you have to MOVE so that I can get in!  I can't back in if you don't move that sign back further!

Him: (Stares at me, hand on the "no parking" sign.)
 
Me: Sir, if you don't MOVE THAT SIGN I'm going to back over it with my car.  And if you don't MOVE YOURSELF I'm going to call the police (gets in the car, puts it in reverse)
 
He moves.
 
I park (in the front, like he wanted, because I'm a NICE HUMAN BEING) and unload Maya while he walks around my car and mutters to himself.
 
I was amazed when I got back to the car that it hadn't been keyed or double parked or whatever.
 
So what do I do when this happens again?  Because it definitely will.  And I got so upset so quickly (especially because we had about 5 minutes to get to the appointment on time) that  I was *this* close to yelling at him "Hey, do you have kids?  Can they walk?  Well then thank your lucky stars because MINE CAN'T and we NEED TO PARK HERE so just GET OUT OF MY #@%$##@%  WAY!"
 
But that wouldn't have helped, right?
 
(Sigh)
 
I'm so tired of feeling like I'm fighting all the time.   I don't want to have to justify myself to every idiot insurance agent and entitled doorman that I come across.
 
Maya cooperated by going stiff as a board when I took her out of the carseat (it's a new game, so that I can't put her into the stroller), so she was laying completely horizontal across both of my arms as I took her out of the car . . . it must have looked like she had a broken back :)  It kind of made me laugh, it was like she was hamming it up :)
 
Anyway, I'd love help with this one.  Post thoughts in the comments, on FB, or email me directly (uncommonfeedback@gmail.com)
 
And the Holiday Card goes up in just a few hours!

It's coming on Christmas . . . *

I Love December. 

L-o-v-e December.

My birthday is Dec. 19---same week as Christmas.  While this sometimes brings birthday sympathy ("Did you feel like you got shortchanged because everyone's busy with Christmas-y stuff?"), I love it!  I love that my birthday falls right during the time when everyone is decorating, listening to carols, wrapping presents, drinking hot chocolate . . . it's like everyone (everyone who wants to, anyway) has stars in their eyes.  And snow!  There's always the possibility of snow, too!  I'll leave my feelings about snow for some other time, because I could fill a few pages with them.

Anyway, in honor of our entry into December (and Hanukkah, too!  Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!) I bring to you Maya's First Holiday Card.  This was Dec. 2008, she was 6 months old :

Yes, I really put her in a pot.  Yes, it was really on the stove.  She couldn't move, the burners weren't on, and she was (clearly) having fun.  So don't hate mail me.

We have a bit of a holiday card obsession.  This is the one from 2008 . . . in a few days I'll put up the one from 2009, and then this year's card (it's a good one---some folks will have them arriving in mailboxes this week!)

In other EXTREMELY EXCITING news . . . guess what arrived today?!?!?!?

Did you guess?

That, my friends, is our handicap parking permit  (and the champagne that we are currently celebrating with)!

If you're not a New Yorker, you might not fully understand the wonder of this thing . . . it's not like "I can get a closer spot at the grocery store". 

Instead, it means that I don't have to carry Maya out to the car to move it for street cleaning.  It means that instead of leaving for feeding therapy 1 hour and 15 minutes early to allow for parking time, we can leave 25 minutes early and just grab a "no parking" spot close to the building.  It means that as Maya starts walking more, I'll be able to park close enough to places to actually allow her the chance to practice walking, rather than tossing her in a stroller all the time.  It means that (hopefully) my arm, neck, hip, and back won't hurt as much from having to carry her everywhere.

It's a game changer. 

It was a pain in the butt to get (an 8 month process, which included having to get Maya a license, and resubmitting forms because they couldn't read the doctor's signature---really?) but in the end, we were victorious :)