As a frequent visitor of Nichol’s Library, I am more than used to navigating through the intersections, stop signs, construction sites, and scattering pedestrians of Downtown Naperville. But during Sunday afternoons, the prime times for the library’s parking lot traffic, finding a parking spot there can be a real headache.
One Sunday afternoon, I arrived at the library’s parking lot at 1:30pm, sandwiched between two cars, and counted around five other cars looping around the parking lot from the opposite direction. I drove around loops after loops, looking for a spot. After loops without success, I suddenly saw a black pick-up truck backing out from my right. FINALLY, A SPOT! – I said to myself excitedly as I switched on my right-turn signal, ready to fill it in. As the truck moved out of my way, however, I saw, from the opposite direction, a stationary white SUV, also blinking its turning lights. My intrusive thought was to hit the accelerator and steal the parking spot before they get a chance to take it. But when I glanced at the white SUV again, I saw an old lady in the driver’s seat.
It must be hard for her to get a parking spot here, I thought to myself, she probably needed the spot more than I did. So I kept my foot on the brake, waved at her, and gave her that precious spot.
Even though parking spots at the library are rare, I don’t need them so desperately because I’ve always had my other option – I can parallel park (in fact, I found a parallel parking spot at Jefferson Avenue just a
few minutes later).
When it comes to parking in the library, knowing how to parallel park could save you a lot of headache; outside the context of library parking, the ability to parallel park comes in handy too.
For example, you won’t get as many tardies.
When I was a Junior, I would drive to school once in a while; and when I drove to school, I was notorious for being late to class. But hear me out: there’s no parking lots for Juniors, so roadside-5th Avenue was the only way to go. But when you are slightly late, the road would be filled with cars of other students. As you drive down 5th Avenue, you would see a long line of parked cars – and occasionally gaps large enough for your own car to fit in. However, poor Junior Frank did not know how to parallel park. So he would drive past these golden parking opportunities as if they never existed, all the way to the front of that queue of parked cars, a point so far that Naperville North is not even visible, and walk all the way back to NPAC entrance, then to his first-period math class, before finally getting clowned on by Mrs. Moore.
Had I known how to parallel park, I might not have been late because instead of parking at the front of the queue and taking a 15 minute walk, I could have parked at the middle of the queue and taken a 10 minute walk; that’s the difference between being late and being on-time.
For comparison, one day, having missed the morning bus to Central for my first-period class, I drove to Central myself. As I drove down the road next to Central’s tennis courts, I found myself in the same situation I was in for many times as a Junior: a long road, and a long line of parked cars. I scanned the line of cars to my right, and BOOM, I saw a gap! Had I not known how to parallel park, I would have driven past it; but this time, armed with my masterful ability to parallel park, I swerved right in, got in class on-time, and even helped someone else parallel park on my way to class.
See – being able to parallel park gives you a back-up plan wherever you go and saves you from a lot of potential troubles.
Parallel parking is the kind of skill that may feel unnecessary to deliberately learn: you can definitely survive without it, and most of the time it’s not even clear when you will need it. Learning any skill takes time and effort, and we’re lazy. It’s therefore tempting for us to ignore the importance of learning small skills that do not yield immediate or obvious return: if you are busy with school, why bother to learn parallel parking when you can take that time to work on your College Apps? But nonetheless, these little skills come in handy when you do need them; and over the long run, they can be greatly beneficial.
In today’s digital age, people are used to getting immediate satisfaction with the clicks of buttons. This fostered a culture in which people seek immediate return and overlook long-term benefits. We prioritize things with immediate gratification and overlook investing our time in things with long-term benefits that aren’t so obvious. We study not for personal growth, but because the exam is tomorrow; we look for internships not to acquire working experiences, but because they help with college apps; and we don’t workout for physical wellness, but instead, we bench our max weight every once in a while because we can’t wait to see the numbers go up. 
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe,” says Abraham Lincoln. Instead of focusing on cutting down that tree, we should take our time to sharpen our axe. Maybe, instead of focusing on what we get, we should take our time to hone our skills and enrich our minds.
If a small skill like parallel parking might benefit your life in the long run, maybe learning it is worth some of your precious time today.
This was a great read. I also believe that parallel parking is one of the most practical skills to learn when you are behind a wheel. My instructor at Excel Driving School taught me to parallel park without ease. I am forever grateful for learning this skill as it has helped me numerous times in high-traffic areas. We Naperville students tend to make frequent trips to Downtown Naperville, and often during the times when there is much traffic. There are very few parking spots available, and most require one to parallel park. Without this skill, finding a parking spot would take ages. As we all still have minimal experience driving (when compared to a lifetime), it would be of great use for us to continue to build our skills (sharpen our axe) for when we are behind a wheel, or simply in general.
I believe that parallel parking is a skill every driver should learn. Especial living is a city. It is essential. Thanks for sharing your experiences here and the trial and tribulation of your parking history at North as well as at Nichols Library. This was a unique topic to address. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Frank! I definitely agree that this is a very important topic, parallel parking is a very important skill. Your description about parking in downtown was also funny and enjoyable to read. I also relate a ton to your experience with parking on 5th Avenue. My experience parking there during my sophomore and junior year was definitely hectic, and it could’ve been better if everyone knew how to parallel park. There were too many times where students would leave tons of space between the cars. This causes people who live further away from the school to consistently be at risk to be late; I happen to be one of those. I also loved your connection to Lincoln’s quote, and how in modern society people are too intent on getting immediate satisfaction instead of long-term ease. The world would absolutely be a much better place if people knew how to parallel park better.
Hi Frank,
I completely understand your frustration with parking at Nichols Library in Downtown Naperville. It can be a real challenge, especially during peak times. The ability to parallel park is undeniably valuable, as you’ve rightly pointed out. It can save time and trouble in various situations.
However, I’d like to offer a different perspective. Downtown Naperville has many parking lots that are often empty. While parallel parking is a useful skill, it doesn’t need to be the norm when such convenient parking lots are available. If you woke up maybe a couple of minutes earlier, you could’ve parked at one of those and made a 10-15 minute walk to school. Although I guess that’s where the Central students have it easy.
I still agree with you, that parallel parking remains a valuable skill, but I think the main problem is the parking situation at North, just period.
I remember having to deal with the line of cars on 5th avenue as well. Thankfully, I know how to parallel park, and I could take the spots easily without blocking traffic or having to re-park. In Naperville, we’re lucky to have great infrastructure and lanes with enough room for road parking. But in the city, mastering parallel parking is a necessity, especially on weekends with parking garages are all filled up. I agree that most people aren’t willing to learn something they don’t believe will help them in the future. Like you said, it’s definitely good to prepare. It’s funny to see the embarrassment of someone who holds up traffic after failing to parallel park. It’s not too hard, and the rear camera helps a lot.
Not to steal your thunder frank, but for those reading this who don’t know how to parallel park, this is how you do it:
1) pull up close to the car in front where your side mirror is in front of the rear door handle of the other car
2) Turn your wheel all the way to the right, and back up. If you have a camera, straighten your wheels quickly when the halfway-mark of the rear camera lines touch the curb. If not, look back through the rear window, and when you’re angled 45 degrees then straighten your wheels.
3) ease in, and align yourself with the curb. Easy as that.
Hi Frank, I enjoyed reading your experience and lesson about parallel parking. In my life, I do not really use parallel parking and never had a good opportunity to use it besides one time where you and peter were teaching me to parallel park down a small hill for the church meetup which did not go well, and that was not even useful as we were supposed to meet up in a different place and parking there was very far from this different place. Although I do not use parallel parking frequently, I see your point that it is a good thing to learn eventually, and it is not that hard to learn. However, I think I should learn it when I need to and it is not very necessary right now, because I do not really use it. Maybe if I am driving a car around an urban area and know I need to park it there sometime in my life I should learn how to park there. Nonetheless, I think I could still learn it and it would be a good thing to know even if I do not apply it as it would just feel good knowing more I guess.