Not Funny At The Time But......

I have a fear of Parking Garages. Not that they are going to fall in (well maybe a little), but that as we are driving through, the roof of the vehicle is going to hit the roof.

Most of you know that every 3 weeks, when I can, I ride with Laurel down to Pittsburgh for her treatments for her breast cancer. And every time we go down, we have to park in the parking garage. The nice thing is the hospital is attached to the garage and we can usually park right by the entrance as there is reserved parking for the cancer center patients.

Usually we take Laurels car but on occasion we have taken her husbands huge Dodge Ram pickup. As we enter the garage, in either vehicle, I hunker down (as if that is going to help) and pray that we don't hit. We never have, just one of those silly fears that some people have.

So Wednesday morning I arrive at her house ready to go. I knew that her husband had her car as he was out of town on business and her car is better on gas. Not a big deal usually, although the truck does make me more nervous than the car as it is MUCH taller.

As we are going out to get in the truck I notice that the truck has a wooden rack in the bed. It is used to carry equipment and such. I ask Laurel if she thinks we will still fit in the garage. Oh sure, it only makes the truck about six inches taller. We will have plenty of room!

Famous last words! You all know where this is going.

Yes, we got down to Pittsburgh, pull into the garage and I notice the one corner of the rack shaking after we enter. So I ask again if we are going to clear. Yes, we are fine!

I am hunkered down nervously looking in the mirror watching what is about to happen.

We go a little further and hear SCRAPE and a small bang as the rack releases from the roof and adjusts back in the bed.

We Just Hit The Roof! And there is a LINE of cars behind us!

So now what? We can't go any further as there are drainage pipes hanging down and we will surely catch them.

Laurel is so calm she pulls to the side and backs up as far to the left as she can so traffic can get around. Then I see the parking garage policewoman coming after us.

I can't get out of the car as the traffic is just squeezing by on the right. As soon as I can, I get out to try to help her.

At this point the lady attendant is trying to figure out what to do and there is Laurel in the back of the truck TEARING the rack apart. With her bare hands.

I think she was a little, ok make that a lot, peeved and embarrassed and upset that we were now going to be late for her appointment.

She got it situated enough to get us to the level we needed and would worry about it later.

Now if that wasn't funny enough, as we are sitting in the waiting room her husband calls. He asked how things were going. She calmly states "Oh, everything was well until about 5 minutes ago when we got stuck in the parking garage with that rack you left in the truck." Dead Silence on the other end of the phone. Then "Hmmm, Guess I should have taken that out."

You Think?!?!?!

It is always an adventure when Laurel and I are together. We laugh constantly and just have a great time. I am going to miss our trips once I go back to work and am so glad I got to spend so much time with her this summer.

Stacy