My Mum the Car Whisperer

I’m from a small country town that has one main street with a smattering of side streets to park in when you go shopping.  My mother always had a number of “favourite” parking spots and invariably we regularly experienced  this question “kids, anyone remember where I parked the car?” 

We’d be loaded with grocery bags etc. and so the long march around to ALL the “favourite” parking spots would begin. Let me tell you, the car was always at the opposite end of the street when she asked the question too.

Gifted in many things, my mother’s ability to forget where the car was parked proved to be one her finest.  She once walked all the way home from work, right past the car, and then had to tell dad she’d forgotten that she’d driven to work that morning. 

She even began a tradition in town with where she parked the car.  Not one for reverse angle parking she would rarely be found parked on the main street.  However, it seemed that the days she DID park on the main street it would rain.  Out home we lived in a world of perpetual drought that was interspaced with small amounts of rainfall.   Word quickly spread round town and for many years mum would be asked “Did you park in the main street today?  We need the rain you know”

She’s fallen asleep in the car when giving me driving lessons and took her own driving test when I was but a babe in a bassinette on the back seat.  For my mum the car has been both a symbol of freedom and a talking point with so many.  I’m just not sure I’d let her park in a multistorey carpark by herself though.