Straighten Up and Fly . . . er, PARK Right!

I appreciate the policeman who ran off the road chasing drug dealers just before we drove up Wednesday night . . . and the ones who responded when there was a shooting outside my ESL classroom a few weeks ago. So why am I still mad about the ticket on my house guest's car for parking next to our curb in the WRONG DIRECTION?! It's not like the police haven't been to my house in the eleven years we've lived here . . . when I reported a former neighbor for suspected (confirmed) child abuse . . . when one of my kids failed to stop for the neighborhood school bus . . . when another one failed to stop for the policeman trying to give him ticket . . . when our three teenagers and their friends parked their cars on the street EVERY day in EVERY direction for at least four years--you understand my indignation. Well, this time, I wasn't going to take it sitting down. I marched myself upstairs to get construction paper, Sharpies and a couple of sheet protectors, and boy do I feel good about the warning sign I put alongside my curb . . . that is, until the "neighborhood nazis" send a citation for having an unauthorized sign in the front yard. I'll just tell them they're my Halloween/Thanksgiving decorations.