Elevators, Parking Garages and Towers – oh my!

I’m a city girl but not a Big City girl.  I am intimidated by skyscrapers, tall towers, and elevators with more than 7 numbered buttons to push and parking garages.  Actually, I detest parking garages – they are often illogical, not well-marked, can be dark and scary, and typically the only places I can park are at the extreme areas with the worst access and least climate control.  Those nice, well-lit, close-in spaces are for the lofty folks who can park in “Reserved” or “Contract” without fear of the towing company.

Recently I visited our corporate office in another city.  A city bigger than mine.  Their  offices are in a beautiful new space on the 11^th floor of one building of a four tower complex.  Once you are inside their suite it is lovely, with beautiful views and all the amenities.  But to get there you have to negotiate, tall towers, elevators with more than 7 buttons and parking garages.

When I arrived that morning I parked in a 2 hour visitor parking space.  I knew I’d be there all day but at their former location the parking was ample and visitor spaces weren’t closely monitored.  I exited my car and noticed what a looked like a grown-up hall monitor walking among the rows of parked cars, writing on a clipboard.   I found my way to the elevators – thank goodness all the elevators in this building stop on floor 11.

During the morning I heard my co-workers discussing the new space, the move, and the parking and learned it might be wise to move my car.  At a stopping point in training, I grabbed my keys and headed out to find long-term visitor parking.

Down the hall to the elevators, press 1.  Exit that elevator into the building lobby, round the corner and exit into the parking garage area.  Walk to my car.  It’s easy when you are in 2 hour visitor parking.

I backed out, shifted into D and began reading the signs.  “Exit”, “Retail Parking”, “Stop”, “Contract Parking” … ah, there it was “Long Term Parking on the Roof ↑”.  On the roof?  Geez, in this 108º weather surely it would not be exposed to direct sun.  Round and round I drove, stopping, reading signs, wondering how there could be parking on the roof of a 30 story building.  After a few minutes I was up on a level where I could see tops of trees and look down on buildings, and it seemed that the ceiling of this level of the garage had to be the roof.  I found a space close to a stairwell and got out of the car, proud that I had found long term visitor parking.  Spotting another ‘hall monitor’ I decided to confirm that, and I politely asked if this was indeed long term visitor parking.  With a long-suffering look and no smile she replied, “Long term parking is on the roof.  Just follow the signs.”  Good grief.

Backing out the car again, I made sure not to run over the hall monitor and begin circling the levels again.  A few minutes later I rounded a corner and saw the bright sunlight on two uncovered cement flats of parking spaces.  Just outside the covered “Contract” parking was “Long Term Parking on the Roof ↑”.   The cement slanted upward, walking distance to the closest stairwell was hard to calculate, and not a lick of shade in sight.  Welcome to “Long Term Parking on the Roof ↑”. 

Now that I was here, how the heck was I going to find my way back to the right building, much less the right elevator?   I ended up back at the office by taking this route:

Stair 1 Level 4 stairs to Stair 1 Level 2 stairs

Walk all the way across parking garage to

Elevator 2 Bank D

Elevator 2 Bank D to Elevator 1 Bank D

Exit Elevator 1 Bank D in parking garage, find doors to enter building

Enter Elevator, Press 11

End up on 30^th Floor

When the doors opened onto the premier 30^th floor, a nice gentleman entered the elevator.  Seeing that I was not getting off, he asked which floor I need.  “I’m going to the 11^th floor,” I said confidently.  He just smiled and asked if I was a visitor.

Needless to say I was not looking forward to the end of the day when I’d have to find my way back to car.  The crazy thing was I could see my car from our breakroom on the 11^th floor.  How could that be?  I drove up and up and up, only to find later that I parked on the roof next to the 3^rd floor of the building??

At the end of the day I filled my water cup and headed bravely for the elevators.  Enter elevator on floor 11, Press 1.  The elevator immediately raced to the 28^th floor, where a nice lady got on with me.  I confessed I was new to the building and not having the best experience with the elevators and parking.  Immediately we were best friends – turns out she was a new employee to the building and was having the same frustration.  I felt a little better.

Exit Elevator on Floor 1

Turn the corner, exit the building to parking garage

Take Elevator 1 Bank D to Elevator 2 Bank D

Exit Elevator 2 Bank D, walk across parking garage to

Stair 1 Level 2

Stair 1 Level 2 to Stair 1 Level 4

Exit on the highest level of “Long Term Parking on the Roof ↑”. 

Walk down to car, open all doors and windows, remove sunshield, sweat profusely

To complete my parking experience, as I exited the roof level I couldn’t quite make the tight turn bounded by medians into the exit lane and so of course ran up onto the median.  Put it in Reverse, back up, inch forward, back up, inch forward and barely make it through the space and merge into the flow of traffic exiting through the garage.  Down all the levels, with only one wrong turn that required going into Reverse, and a few minutes later I was out onto the street.  Freedom!   Blue sky, marked pavement and regular street traffic never looked so good.

After the Grandkids Visit

Ramona sits on her shelf slumped sideways, one shoe half off, exhausted.  The Peter Rabbit family rests quietly on their shelf, looking strangely expectant.   Bambi, having been much loved as Emily's constant companion during her stay, is posed contentedly on the jungle shelf next to Baloo the Bear and Lion.   The ring of alphabet blocks remains positioned on floor of the grandkids room as the center ring of Emily's circus.  Mr. and Mrs. Noah and their animals are once again nestled in their wooden ark, marveling at their recent stint as circus performers. 

The wooden wagon with its picture blocks that make a puzzle, Molly’s favorite toy while she was here, are right where she left them.  All the books, replaced by Mommy and Uncle Walter on the last night, are tucked away neatly on their assigned shelves, looking quite pleased at how much they were read.  A bright metallic sticker is stuck at child height on the wall at the top of the stairs; another is in the carpet just outside the grandkids room.  Tubes of finger paint and some poster board lie unnoticed on the upstairs porch.  Bubble wands tossed idly on the porch swing.

All the sippee cups and plastic plates are cleaned and put away; the booster chair is back in its storage spot.  No more cheerios or goldfish to dodge on the floor, no more "haz-mat" diapers by "polecat", as Grandpa affectionately referred to Molly when she produced one of those.   No more shape pancakes, no more icing birthday cakes together, no more baking cookies with lots of sprinkles.    No more tea parties, no more train rides in the grandkids room for all the animals in baskets, chairs and boxes.  No more block towers for Molly to knock over. 

The house is quiet without that sweet toddler voice piping "tank u", without that little girl voice inquiring, "Grandma, have you seen Bambi?" or "Can you please pass me the scissors and glue?"  The arts and crafts carefully made by Emily are stored in her crafts basket downstairs at the children's table.  How many times was that table used by her mother for tea parties and crafts when she was that age? 

Only Pete the Cat seems pleased that everyone is gone, and even he seems to look for them as he wanders the upstairs.  There is a sweet sadness in the air, permeated by lingering joy and love and laughter.  Oh how blessed are we to have such family love, to experience the full range of emotions God created in us, and to have faith that God willing we shall be together again soon. 

Until then, I think I'll go downstairs and eat that last cookie with the blue sprinkles on it....