8/13/2002

Direction - The other day I was stopping by to check on my daughters at soccer camp. I pulled into the school's parking lot area looking for a space and found one on a road that loops around, since the lot iteslf was full. There wasn't much room, so I had to back in. As I put the car into reverse, I looked up and saw a station wagon parked about 40 yards away with a guy fishing stuff out of the back. Standing next to him were (presumably) his preteen daughter and very young son, perhaps 5 years old.

The son was looking straight at me from across the distance, but I don't think he could see that I was looking back at him. However, as he watched me pull into the space he started gesturing with his hands - first making a "come this way" gesture, and then a "go that way" push. I eased into the space and he continued this until I came to a stop, at which point he gave me the "stand pat" gesture. He'd been pretending to direct me in my parking efforts.

I got my stuff together and got out of the car quickly; I'd wanted to wave at him or something to acknowledge his pretend help. By the time I extricated myself from the vehicle, he had looked away to whatever life's next challenge was.