is anyone out there???

I just want to save the world, is something wrong with that?

My daughter has been trying to get a pass for a coveted parking place at school. Last year she had to walk from the city park to school since first choice goes to seniors and juniors. Being a junior, Sarah was excited to park close to the school. Every day, I asked her if she got her parking pass--as I drove by, I saw fewer and fewer spots left behind the school.

"No, and they yelled at me today when I tried to get one," she told me. I tried to control myself, but this got the 'mommy rage' started. "I will go get you a pass," I told her. "And I am not going to leave your school, until I have been given one," I promised (I also added that as a warning in case things ended up getting out of hand and they heard about someone getting escorted out of the building.)

So, I went to the school ready to do battle. Sarah was a junior who was going to get a parking pass---how dare they not give one to her, I was angry! I talked to the secretary, explained that my daughter had come in several times earlier and asked for a parking pass but not been given one. "Okay," she said, "I'll get that for you."

What! That's it---No begging, pleading, name dropping, demanding to speak to the principal, crying, threatening required? I was very disappointed.

"But Sarah said you yelled at her when she tried to get her pass yesterday," I told the secretary trying to understand the situation (and maybe trying to provoke her a little). "Yes, but I thought she would come back when she realized I made a mistake," she said with a smile. (Huh? Is that the best excuse she could come up with?)

I left with a parking pass in my hand, but it felt like a hollow victory. I had envisioned myself chained to a desk, threatening to sue, or well...at least something a little more dramatic than "Okay, I'll get that for you." When Sarah gets home from school today I'll tell her the story of how I somehow miraculously managed to get the very last parking pass left at school---the one I had to wrestle from the hands of two other desperate mothers---maybe she will at least remember to say thank you, after all I went through to get it...