Today's story starts when we first got to the sidewalk. There were several other people there talking and praying. One lady was facing PP, twirling her rosary beads in her fingers. An older man approached us and introduced himself. I told him my name and he looked at my son and said, "Is this your little brother?" At first I thought he was joking and said, "Some people think that!" But he just kept staring at me like, well, if he's not your brother, who is he? so I said he was my son. The man bent down and told EJ, "Your momma looks like she's 16!" So how do I let this guy know I did NOT have a child at age 10 without telling him my age? Aren't ladies not supposed to tell their age? Well, EJ piped up with, "She's not 16! She's like, 27 or something." I almost laughed out loud at the guy's face! I guess as long as people think I'm 16, I shouldn't worry about them knowing I'm really 16 plus 12.
That man left, and EJ and I started walking up the sidewalk slowly. He was gathering nuts to place at the base of a tree, and I was trying to figure out who that person was in the parking lot. Turns out a policewoman was on guard in the sidewalk. I wasn't sure if she was there protecting the PP people or us on the sidewalk. I thought it strange that a police-person would stand guard outside a killing house. That made no sense to me. I wanted to ask her about it, but I didn't want to get tazed. Also, there were a lot of people around, and I don't have a very loud outside voice.
We walked for an hour, people left, people came. We left and headed to Her Choice to take the blankets I'd made. I found directions earlier, so I knew I wouldn't get lost. It was just down the road and around the block. Easy enough. The building was on the corner between two one way streets, and as soon as I got to the first one way street, I could feel my blood pressure going up. Or maybe I just started to panic. Are those the same thing? I didn't get lost, I found the building with the little pink sign, but there was no where to park. Now, it was about 12:15, and UAB is literally right around the corner from where I was. Another hospital is about six or so blocks the other direction, and downtown is like, two streets away. To say there was a lot of traffic would be an understatement. So I don't know if the nowhere to park problem is always a problem, or just a problem at lunchtime. Either way, I circled the block twice and ended up just going home.
When I got home, I thought about the parking situation. PP had 15 spots in their parking lot, and when I was there, all 15 were occupied. There is also additional parking to the side, about 5 spots, also full. The road going in front of the building is available to park, and that is where us prayers park. For free. Her Choice has lots of road around it to park on, but every spot has a meter on it. Plus they were all full when I went, but I don't think they were full of HC people.
We are going back tomorrow, and every weekday, until the end of 40 days for life. I just hope none of the scared teenage girls we send to HC come right back to PP, because I think that's what I would have done if I had been in that situation.