Back It Up Right - Growing up, and even still to this day, my parents back their cars into the garage. Most people on our alley pulled in and then backed out, we did just the opposite. I think it originally had to do with not wanting to back over anyone on our driveway basketball court and less to do with needing to make a quick escape. One of my favorite memories growing up was waiting for Dad to get home. My brother and sister and I would climb up in the fort he had built for us in our back yard and look over the fence until we saw his car. We'd wait for half a hour sometimes and there was nothing more exciting than seeing the charcoal gray Mazda 626 come down the alley. We would all run to the driveway and then wait to see who got to help Dad back the car into the garage. When it was my turn Dad would let me sit on his lap and steer the car as he did the rest. After years of this, and after I got to big to sit in the car with Dad, driving a car in reverse became almost second nature. I think that I can actually park a car faster and more precisely backing it in than pulling it in. When I bought my '85 Chevy truck two months after my 16th birthday, I especially got proficient at the art of backing it up right.
Which brings me to the point of this diatribe: If you own a vehicle or ever plan to drive a vehicle that you may need to back into a parking space, learn how to do it and quit wasting my time as you try and remember what happens when you turn the wheel to the left in reverse. I have watched countless large trucks (driven by countless little men) take more than a minute to park. Quit wasting my time and just park your very large vehicle a couple of spaces further away from the store, it is not going to kill you! I want to teach a course on how to "Back It Up Right", although, come to think of it, isn't that a new show on BET?