The Handicap Spot

There's an old saying in my family (the Millers) that nearly every situation in life can relate back to a Seinfeld episode, and this situation is no different...



Man, I love that show.

So, here's my little rant...please humor me for a few minutes.

For some reason, this past Saturday I decided to take the kids out to Target and the grocery store all by myself.  I must be crazy or something.

First of all, shopping in Minot has gotten nearly impossible on the weekends, so most of the time, I just go out during the week and only with Calvin.  Second, taking Natalie with me means that my hands are tied up with a wheelchair, and that means no cart and directing a stubborn two year old to walk beside me while I gather as many things as I can in my arms.

Like I said...I must have been crazy.

However, I was in a great mood, and everything went really well.  Well...almost everything.

Until Natalie came along, I don't think I had ever parked in a handicap spot, so I didn't really notice this stuff before.  Over the past four or so years that we've had our handicap tag, I've noticed some rather annoying violators.

There are three violators I've identified:

1.  The Drop-Offer:  Someone who drops off a passenger at the door, then sits in the car in a handicap spot until that person comes back out.
2.  The Un-Handicapped:  This may be someone who is using a handicap tag that belongs to someone else, or a person who had a tag for a particular reason (i.e., crutches) and no longer needs it, but still uses it.
3.  The Blatant Violator:  If you don't have a handicap tag, don't park in a handicap spot, because I guarantee I can report a violator faster than you can say, "one hundred dollar fine."

I make it a point to never park in a handicap spot unless Natalie is with me.  On this day, two of the three violators taking up spots, which then left all spots full at both Target and the grocery store.

A handicap spot isn't just the closest spot to the front door, it's a safe place for me to load and unload my handicapped daughter on the side of my van.  Instead of squeezing the wheelchair in between two vehicles, I have a designated area that keeps me from doing this task out in the driveway area of the parking lot.

Also, since it takes a lot longer to load and unload Natalie from the wheelchair and put that clunky wheelchair in the back of the van, these spots are ideal during the dead of winter.

Okay, there's my rant for the day.  Those violators were darn lucky I was in a good mood on Saturday!!  :)