I guess old age is catching me

[M R Dux]

In my youth I was known for having an explosive temper. It took a bit to get me lit up but when I did it wasn't pretty. My soon-to-be wife and mother-in-law watched me twist the hood off of a 1970 Mach I Mustang and leave it in their yard for several days. Needless to say my soon-to-be MIL thought I was crazy and her daughter had no sense marrying me. That was 43 years ago and we are still happily married and best friends. My In-laws got over their initial impressions and I have always been on great terms with them.

This morning I had to take care of some business at our county courthouse. It is an old-time court square with parking on both sides of the 4 one-way streets. I pulled into a parking space that was laid off for something slightly larger than a motorcycle. The vehicle on my right side was hugging the line so I got slightly over to the left to give them room, a courtesy I try to do at all parking situations. I was well within the lines of my space.

I went inside and got my business done, feeling pretty good. I came out to find a pick-up had parked on my driver's side, inside MY LINES!! My mirror was no more than one inch away from the side of the other truck. It was 24 degrees and I knew I was just going to be a couple of minutes so I had left my jacket in the truck and I had locked my keys inside like always. I never take the keys out. They are above the visor and I always use my key-pad on the door to open it.

I look at the situation and think how in the world am I going to get into my truck? I'm 6'2" and 300 pounds. The distance between the trucks is no more than a foot. The key-pad is between the trucks. I'm starting to feel that old blood pressure spike that used to have an effect on my sanity. I'm going to wait this person out and let them know what an idiot I think they are. Heck, I may just climb up on their hood and stand there till they come out to get in. All those old thoughts of raining misery down on this person who has so inconvenienced me with their inconsiderate parking came rushing in.

From somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, the thought came to me to just make the best of it and try to get the truck open and get out of there before something was said or done I would be sorry for. I squeezed my big butt between the trucks and reached as far as I could but was able to type in my code to open all the doors. The back of my shirt wiped the side of the other truck. It was probably the cleanest it had been in years.

OK, now the doors are unlocked but I still had a considerable problem. My truck is an F-150 FX4. That means I have bucket seats with a tall console with the shifter in the console. I go around to the passenger side of the truck, lay my paperwork in the floorboard, and try to imagine the un-natural positions I'm going to have to use to get inside the truck and over that console to the driver's seat. I might as well start by getting into the passenger seat. Once I got there I had to bend my recently replaced left knee up and over the console. Once there, I managed to get my soon to be replaced right knee and leg up and over. The rest of me slid over without much bone crunching.

I sat there hoping that nobody saw and filmed what had just transpired. By now my blood pressure was down a couple of hundred points and I just got the keys, started the truck and backed out into the street---thinking of all the nasty things I probably would have inflicted on the person who had parked so close in my earlier days.

Getting old is a pain!! It also has the ability to help me make better decisions than in my youth.

I drove off.

[lowe175]

I feel you buddy. I to have a bad temper and I have noticed the older I get the better I handle it. It's best to let it go but that redneck blood just comes out sometimes. You done good my friend

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[silverside]

They were begging to not have windows. I am a bit like you with the temper situation. I tend to believe the ways of the old west was not wrong. When someone NEEDS shooting you shoot them. Problem solved for the next guy in this persons path. You handled the situation well. Good job.

[Crestliner08]

WOW! Are we related somehow??? LOL! At 73 my tolerance for stupid is decreasing most exponentially. And my wife (married 47 years) knows it. If she saw that situation, she'd probably go into the establishment and call the cops BEFORE I exploded! LOL. Yeah, no one ever told me that getting old was going to be fun. But I'd like to get my hands on the dude that said these were suppose to be our Golden Years!"

[ET Fish]

Well done! I’ve always had that temper, I just never had the body to back it up (5’8” 150 lbs). In other words, my mouth wrote checks that my body couldn’t cash!

[Hanr3]

Thanks for the laugh. Watching you climb into your truck was the funniest thing I'd seen all year. I'll post the video later.

I know your pain, and have had both knees replaced. You handled it better than me. I may have accidentally fallen between the trucks and flattened a tire while trying to get up.


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[wilbur]

You should of drove to the shop and captured one of them rattlesnakes went back and put it in that vehicle. Then sit across the street and take a video of it.

[M R Dux]

You should of drove to the shop and captured one of them rattlesnakes went back and put it in that vehicle. Then sit across the street and take a video of it.

Like this?

One I just mounted but haven’t done finish paint.



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[KFC]

You did the right thing though. I hope your tongue isn't too sore from biting it. It's really hard not to wait until they come out and say something smart or sarcastic. Like its really going to help make their behavior change or you feel any better about it. Better off chalking it up to recessive genes. Some people just can't help the way they are, its in their blood.

[need2befishin]

Wise decision sir. Back when we were younger you could dust each other off then part ways win or loose and learn something from either. Now days you run up on one of them uppity types that prefers his "safe space" over a good "teachable moment" and you'll be paying the rest of your life for the emotional distress you caused him by challenging his entitlement.

Sadly, things can escalate quickly and poor judgment in a heated moment can be life changing. You are better for taking the higher road...