I’m sitting in a taqueria in Gaithersburg, MD, waiting for the passenger window to get fixed on my van.

Why?

Because we made the long trip to Baltimore to go to an extraordinary rite baptism of the son of two of my friends from college. As an added bonus, another good friend of mine, now a transitory deacon, was performing the baptism - his first one - in one of the most beautiful American churches I’ve seen, St. Alphonsus.

So back to the window. When I tried to park the van, I managed to scrape the bumper of the car in the next space (growing up in the country didn’t give much parallel parking practice) so I moved to a spot around the corner. I went back to the first spot to inspect the damage and leave my info, and when I went back to my van to put change in the meter, my window was smashed in and my $600 GPS was stolen from the glove box.

Have I mentioned that I love the city?

The saving grace was that the officer dispatched to take our report was incredibly cool, and even took us to a gas station and vacuumed out the car for us. I wish there were more like that.

Anyway, I think our tacos are almost done…

Filed under: Grrr!