Running out the door with my extra large Starbucks caramel coffee and an english muffin in hand, my oh my, it must be a Monday, and I’m late.
Zooming down Cedar Ave doing the Jersey weave, I say a quick prayer for green lights, yet I get red lights in return. Now at I am the intersection of Cedar and Norwood and some clueless freshman pressed the walk button. Don’t they know by now you can just walk when there are no cars? It’s the second semester already. But great, add on another minute to my tardiness.
The line to turn into campus is longer than normal; everyone must have been feeling a little sluggish this lovely Monday, hopefully to my benefit, my professor included. Finally I get into campus and drive past my favorite parking booth attendant; I give her a wave and a big smile while taking my last bite of my english muffin. She never seems to have a bad Monday; then again, she doesn’t have to worry about parking.
By now the clock strikes 11:20 am and students and teachers alike are getting nervous as everyone seems to be playing musical chairs in the parking lot. With my class being in Plangere, I whiz into the lot behind the mac. Deadlock.
You would think the president of the Untied States of America was here to do a speech by the amount of people trying to find that golden spot to not be late to class. After a few moments of panic I have an epiphany, the parking attendants!
I bolt into the middle isle of the parking lot nearly hitting a car or two in the process only to see no cars double parked, just more frantic students trying not to be late. I see a sign up ahead, thinking this must be good news but instead the worst thing I could have read on that woeful morning.
“Mondays at Monmouth.” Oh no. To prospective students and administration alike this is a great day. Students flock to the university, and migrate around seeing how the school really functions. To current students this is a death sentence for parking. Parking is bad enough now throw in an extra 100 cars and take away our lot attendants and you sure have a recipe for disaster.
And disaster it did feel like. As I rush out of the back lot thinking maybe I’ll get lucky in the big lot, I’m stopped by a tour crossing the road. They just really don’t want me going to class today, do they?
11:27 am now I’m about to give up, throw in the towel, wave the white flag, and go back home. But I’m no quitter so I think of one last place to look for a spot, Athletics. If I park at athletics I will definitely be late, but I’m sure almost every person coming from off campus will have the same issue unless you camped out overnight like you were seeing a Justin Bieber concert.
I say to myself “Okay, one more isle, you can do this,” while doing the breathing exercises I learned in yoga the previous semester. I see two large SUVs, but in between the two giant cars, a beautiful space, enough to fit a midsize sedan and I’m lucky enough to be driving one.
I put on my blinker as fast as I can to say, “Hey this is my spot and if you try to take it I will fight you, and you will lose.” I turn my wheel into the spot with a sigh of relief only to be stopped short by the sight of an ugly red motorcycle in the space I thought was mine. I was defeated. You win, Mondays at Monmouth, you win. As I drive away I think to myself, “Tomorrow shouldn’t be as bad, I only have a 4:30.”
IMAGE TAKEN from staticflickr.com
