Rant

*Disclaimer* This is my blog. I have opinions. They might differ from yours. If so, and you don't like what I have to say, don't read. No one is forcing you to read my opinion. So there.

That being said, I have a rant. My son is in a wheelchair. We drive a van with a wheelchair lift that loads from the passenger side. When I park this van, I need to park in a handicapped space that had a loading zone on the right. These are hard to come by. Especially when going to places like medical facilities or shopping centers. There never seem to be enough handicapped parking spaces.

Today, I took The Boy to a doctor's appointment in Sacramento. I parked in a handicapped space with a smallish loading zone. I made it work. When I came out after his appointment, a new car was parked next to me. This car had decided to park IN the loading zone, most likely to unload someone out of the passenger side. I was totally peeved, to say the least. I had to move The Boy several spaces down, park him, alone, and reverse to move into a new spot where I could load him. Luckily for me, a car had moved and I was able to find a nearby spot to load.

Several things about this irk me. One: I can only park on the lowest level. My van is too tall to park on the upper levels. I have limited spaces available to me. Two: I HAVE to have a loading zone on the right. Three: a car can park on ANY level, it just may not be as convenient. Four: Since I was traveling alone, I had to leave my son unattended, in the open, while I moved the van. VERY SCARY! I was so peeved, I left a note on the offending car's windshield.

If you know me, I get mad, and curse and moan, but I usually don't do much about it. I am a pretty patient and accommodating person. For me to leave a note is pretty extreme. I even signed my name to it. It makes me shake just thinking about it.

People are so inconsiderate and self-centered most of the time. Most of the time, I roll with it. When it affects my child, especially my HANDICAPPED child, it really bugs me. Life is hard enough without having to deal with stupid stuff like that. I wish people would just stop to think about someone else once in a while.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Annoying. grrrrr...... Okay, shake it off. Let it go. Move on. But, the next time you're thinking about pulling into that handicapped spot for just a second, or if you DO need a handicapped parking spot, consider the van that needs to park there, before you take the ONE spot that has a side entry. Just think.