I almost won a Darwin award today. Ok well maybe not a Darwin award, but an award for being stupid and needing new glasses. After I dropped Aidan off for preschool, Quinlan and I went to Riley park to check out the Solarium where we will have Aidan’s birthday party on Sunday. That was fine, but after we were heading to Oakridge through the mess that is Cambie street. While a lot of the road is back to normal there is still a ton of road construction happening. Around Oakridge there is a maze of construction making the entrance to Oakridge very difficult to navigate. It is because of this that I took a wrong turn and got into trouble.
At first I didn’t realize I had got myself into trouble. As soon as the gate went down I had an inkling, but I still thought that even though I was in a private parking garage I would be able to get out. I turned the car around when I figured out that I was really in the wrong place. I drove to the gate and then . . . nothing. The gate did not go up. That was when I started to panic a bit, but I figured there had to be a button or something to let me out. I parked the car, got out and checked all around the gate. There was nothing except an emergency number to call. Remember that I had the baby in the car and I had to pick up Aidan from preschool in about 50 minutes. I called the number and I told them that I was stuck in a parking garage that I had entered by accident. The woman on the line said there was nothing they could actually do. It was after this call that I called Anthony at work. I needed someone to calm down the panic that was forming even more. I am glad my blood pressure isn’t a problem because the adrenalin was flowing. When I called Anthony was unable to answer the phone, so I was in this alone.
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Luckily for me and Quinlan, just as I was about to call the police and see what they could do for me, an old lady came into the garage, berated me for being where I wasn’t supposed to be, and let me out. I apologized quickly and got myself out of there.
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All told it was only about 15 minutes and Quinlan slept right through. After the drama I decided that as long as I could find parking I could return the sweater I bought for Anthony last week. Good parking karma (well all my karma today) wasn’t with me so I decided to go to Safeway, grab a Starbucks and then pick up Aidan. I got to Safeway and the Starbucks reader wasn’t working and I had no cash. Thank god the debit machine was working because I needed some sugar and caffeine. To top everything off, my cup was leaking. I swear, days like this I am amazed I make it through at all.
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Actual pickup went uneventfully and I was able to get the rest of the invitations out and talk to a few of the parents. Aidan played with his friend Mac and had a half hour to run off his energy. Lets hope the rest of the day is uneventful.