year of fun

Ok I may be writing about this day long after it happened, but let me tell you, I remember it well. I had been rushing around all day–work, appointments, things here and there. In my rushing around, I noticed the car about to turn from mile 99,999 to mile 100,000. How exciting right?

Cool. Great. More rushing around. Then, for the end of my day, I have an appointment downtown. And by downtown, I actually mean the Loop, a place I rarely go. So I’m running late. I find a parking spot and rush to my appointment. I get out of my appointment at 4pm. I head towards the car–now you know where this is going–and it is gone! I am stunned. Other cars are idling where my car was. I know I am on the right street. I think, it must be stolen. And I start panicking because my practically new MacBook Air is in the trunk (not because of the car–that hunk of junk is 100,000 miles old).

I cross to where the car was parked and notice a very common sign in downtown Chicago “No Parking 4pm-6pm.” I check my phone. 4:10pm. Really? REALLY?! Obviously not stolen. Obviously towed at 4:01pm. Obviously now hidden under Lower Wacker. Now I feel bad for thinking of the car as a hunk of junk, yet continue to worry for my MacBook Air (on which I currently type this post). I take a bus to the hubs at work. Our friend John picks us up and we spend about an hour trying to find the impossibly located pound. (Under Wacker is Lower Wacker. Under Lower Wacker, you might think you would find the river or maybe concrete, but no. There is a secret Lower, Lower Wacker where the city hides cars they tow one minute after no parking goes into effect. And it takes an hour because you have to drive through a mini suburb that you did not know existed in downtown Chicago but that you think you might want to live in some day because there’s a park with lots of trees and a bank and town homes with views of Lake Michigan, yet you don’t have to leave the city. In fact, you are in THE center of the city). And that drive, making both the discovery of Lower, Lower Wacker and Suburban Oasis was the fun part. Oh and the car turning 100,000 miles old.