Can you parallel park? I did once, only once. I quit while I was ahead. It is hard to do. I need a forty acre field on a good day. How I ever got through life without bumping fenders trying to park, I'll never know. Yes, I do. I always looked for a diagonal parking space or a parking garage where the attendant parked my car.

I believe all states require you to know how to parallel park. There are ways around it, if you study the situation. I received my driver's license without the mandatory parallel parking feature. Years ago, in a different place, someone told me I could avoid the dreaded parallel parking provision if I arrived at the sheriff's office about four-thirty in the afternoon. The driver's license office closed at five. Since they would be trying to shut down everything for the day, no one would want to spend time observing my driving and parallel parking skills.

So there I was, with a big smile on my face, ready to take the written test at four-thirty. I had studied the booklet listing all the rules of the road as they applied to me, a driver. I was ready to take the test. They asked if I could come back the next day, since it was close to closing time. Sadly, I told them that no, I couldn't. They reluctantly gave me the test to complete.

No problem. I handed it back to the deputy with the required fee. He checked my answers, then paused. “There's not enough time to take the road test. Can you parallel park?”

”Yes, I can,” I said, lying through my teeth. “No problem.” The truth was I hadn't even tried to parallel park at that point.

“Just tell everyone that you took the road test,” he said to me in a co-conspirator tone of voice. I thanked him and left with a sigh of relief.

My one parallel parking experience came several years after that. My husband said I really needed to learn how, since most parking in the downtown area was of the parallel type. He would teach me. Yeah, right! He usually had the patience of an angry pit bull.

He chose a Saturday for the lesson. There was a lot of traffic. With him as co-pilot, I drove around until I found a suitable opening. He would talk me through it, he said.

“Pull up next to the car in front of the opening. Now, slowly back up, turning your wheels toward the curb. Just before you hit the curb, quickly turn your wheels the other way and straighten it out. You are now parallel to the curb. Back up a little until you have equal distance between the two other parked cars.”

Golly! Gee! I did it on the first try! Not one to push my luck, I never tried to parallel park again.