A Big Scary Story

So, a couple of weekends ago we had a stake conference at our church in Provo. Our ward also had a dinner to raise money for the people in Haiti an hour before the conference was supposed to start. So when we got to the church for dinner, the parking lot was mostly empty. Now, as some background, the church is kind of awkwardly placed in that it is hard to get out of the parking lot very quickly and there are usually traffic jams whenever anything is going on at Church. So when we got there and had our choice of parking, we decided to park on the far north, close to an easier exit, on the opposite end of the lot from the church building. What a great idea, we thought. We will be able to get out so easily now after the conference is over!

So after the meeting got out and we headed to the parking lot, we realized that the parking spot (where we were 100% sure we had left our car) was empty!

Uhhhhh...sinking feeling in the stomach...awkward looks at each other...more sinking feeling in the stomach...mind racing...

"Um," says Kayleen to me, "what happened to our car?"

"I don't know. It's gone."

"Well I can see that. Do you think it got towed?"

"I don't know why it would. We were parked legally."

"Do you think someone stole it?"

Pause the story. At this point most people would have been freaking out/crying/extremely angry etc. But my Kayleen stayed so calm. We have been working on keeping a good attitude and it really helped in this situation. A lot. We try to keep in mind what we learned from Joseph Wirthlin's talk a while back about staying calm and happy even in the worst of times.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=b5f44bb52a73d110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Back to the story.

"Well should we go back inside to get a ride home while we decide what to do?"

I am still in disbelief. "Let's look around the corner. If someone is stupid enough to steal someone else's car, maybe they are playing a prank and parked it around the corner."

At this point our wonderful home teacher and friend Jake pulls up and rolls down the window. "Is everything okay?"

"Um, we think our car got stolen."

So, Jake gives us the number for the Provo police dispatch and I gave them a call.

"I'd like to report a stolen car."

"Could it have been towed sir?" asks the policewoman, slightly annoyed.

"No, we were parked legally."

"Where was the car last?"

"At a church building on 900 East and 700 North."

"Sir, your car has been towed for unauthorized parking." I'm not sure if I actually heard it or if it was in my mind--the way she said it made it seem she thought me very nieve. If it really was that way, I don't blame her.

"Would you like the phone number of the towing company?"

"Yes, please."

By this time Jake had gone in to get a police officer who also happens to be a leader in our stake and was at the conference. He was very interested to see why the car had been towed.

So I called the towing company and talked to the nice young man who towed my legally-parked car. He made his excuses and told how they were supposed to watch that lot carefully and how we were the only people parked on that end and that once he saw the lot starting to fill he had worried that he shouldn't have parked the car. I chuckled and told him not to worry, he was just doing his job and it was a big misunderstanding. He gratefully told me we wouldn't be charged or anything but we would have to come to the lot to pick up our car (on the other end of town).

Jake and Julia gave us a ride over. We are sure grateful for good friends and home teachers. And grateful that we listened to our counsel from our Church leaders to stay calm. We ended up laughing about the whole situation rather than dealing with unneeded stress.