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| The 9 year old was at her mother's on picture day. |
In the late 1960s I was living in Palm Desert with my husband of 3 years. At this time I was the mother of my son (from a previous marriage), our daughter and a part time step mother to his two daughters and a third daughter from his ex wife’s previous marriage…..Did you get all of that? Let me put it another way…there was ours (1+ years), mine (3+ years), theirs (5 and 7), and hers (9). You know how it goes. We only had the 3 girls part time, but I was overwhelmed.
My son, Gene, walked at six months of age. HOWEVER, my daughter, Patty, didn’t walk until she was 13 months old. We tried everything but she would just sit down and crawl. Then, suddenly, she was up, walking around, and changed overnight into the grand explorer. She got into EVERYTHING.
The week after the 3 older girls left I went to visit a friend and vent about how exhausting and frustrating it was having 4 kids to wrangle along with the toddler. Things went fine at my friend’s house. I only had to pull Patty out of 2 cupboards, from under 1 bed, and off the dining room table twice. My son would run to me and appraise me of her activities and I would retrieve her from where ever she wasn’t supposed to be.
Finally, we left for home and I placed them both in the back seat of the car. There were no seat belts back then, but Gene would stay put and I placed Patty in her car seat. The child seats, back then, had hooks that went over the back of the car’s seat and looked like a basket with leg holes.
As I was backing out of my friend’s drive way when Gene started yelling, “SHE’S GETTING OUT OF HER SEAT, SHE’S GETTING OUT!”
At that time I was already pulled half way way into the road and I could see a car coming from the left. So, I backed all the way to the curb, cramped the wheel and parked. I was dealing with Patty’s escape from her seat when someone cleared their throat at my window.
Patty was wailing, Gene was staring, big eyed, at something over my shoulder, and I was already fed up with my day. So, I flipped around and shrieked, “WHAT?” into the POLICE OFFICER’S face.
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| Woops! Sorry, Officer. |
Obviously the officer did not have a clue as to the predicament I was in and the jerk issued me a ticket!
Well, I was not about to pay for a ticket, so, the next week I went to court and explained the whole thing to the judge.
It went something like this…
…With Patty balanced on my hip and Gene clasping my hand I approached the bench (I wasn't stupid, kids are great props).
Your honor, I have just spent 6 weeks taking care of my 1 year old, my 3 year old, and 3 step children ages 5, 7, and 9. The 9 year old hates me and made my life miserable. The 5 year old bites and we all have the wounds to prove it. And, my 1 year old is a pistol, (indicating with a nod at the squirming toddler in my arms...I could hear snickers coming from behind me).
I went on to explain (in high pitch, rapid speech)... "As I was pulling out of a drive way all HELL broke loose (the court room erupted in laughter). My 1 year old had gotten out of her car seat and fell to the floor. She was screaming and yelling bloody murder. My son was yelling warnings of impending disaster and my brain went into overload (by this time the judge was smiling, too). I had to stop the car immediately in order to see if my daughter was hurt. So, I quickly backed to the other side of the street and parked. The vehicle, which turned out to hold a not so understanding police officer, was a block down the street when I started backing out. The chaos caused by the children caused me to have a momentary mini stroke in the middle of the street, then my brain kicked in, and I parked. I think I did a good job, under the circumstances."
The judge agreed and dismissed the ticket.
kt 3/2011
Now I have to tell you a true story of my other friend Karen. When she was young and had three kids in tow, she too had an encounter with a nicer police officer.
ReplyDeleteShe drove to a busy city to the nearest K-Mart or whatever, to buy a trike that was on sale. (This was the last day of the sale). She found a parking place and was attempting to back in, when a mean-spirited woman pulled in behind her, cutting her off. She got out of the car and explained to the woman she was backing into the space first. The woman, who's car was about half way inside, said 'That's just too bad - now you need to move so I can pull all the way in"
My friend Karen said I'm not moving and if you don't move I'm backing up! She got back into her car and waited a few seconds, put the car into reverse and stepped on the gas.
"Crash"
The other woman jumped out of her car yelling and crying and poiinting to her damaged car. Karen said "I told you to move" The the police arrived. The cop talked to the other woman and then came to Karen. She said "Officer, I got here first, I asked her to move because I was backing up. " The officer said what did you do then, Karen answered "I backed up! I thought she'd move."
At this point the officer was laughing. HE LET HER GO! Said to be careful.
The other woman drove to the parking lot to talk some more to the cop. Karen pulled in 'her spot' - went into the store, got the trike. On her way out of the store, she passed the woman. Karen said "I'm all done now, you can have the parking space!" True story.
OK, your story was hilarious and a little sad, when I think of you so young with all those kids and a biter, too. (I can't stand kids that bite!) I love how you took them to court with you! I have to say, I used to take my son with me to appointments I wanted to speed through, because with his autism, he would get so worked up and distress everyone so much, we were usually in and out in no time. Clenna's story about her friend is great, too. How many times I have wanted to confront a parking spot thief!
ReplyDeleteFunny story, followed by another funny story from Ciena! Hers reminds me of the movie, "Fried Green Tomatoes", where Kathy Bates' parking space is stolen by a group of young women. She asked why they did that & they said, "Because we're younger & prettier." She then proceeded to ram her car into theirs. They asked why & she explained, "Because I'm older & have more insurance"!
ReplyDeleteOh my lord! Karen you are a trip! Although I'm gonna have to write you privatly and tell you my story. To long and um not completly appropriate. lol Great post as usual my friend.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great story. I love the spunk it took for you to haul those kids into court and plead your case.
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