Rebel Without A Clue

I don't suppose you remember that time last year when I wondered aloud why I was the only person with a child attending Patrick's school who chose to walk to the door after availing myself of the copious on-street parking rather than stay in my vehicle, creeping along in the crazy-ass-pick up line? Well, this year I acquired a few disciples and thus several of us have been doing the park-and-walk since September (which is fine with me - plenty of parking spaces for all) although one mother confided in me that she had heard whispers that we were... unpopular. And I asked her in all sincerity: why? I mean if we wanted to park and they wanted to drive what did it matter? Some people had babies sleeping in their cars while some felt the need to get a little exercise and still other people, perhaps, have a child who's flakier than a well-made biscuit; a child who would never ever manage to bring home his lunch bag and his boots and his binder and his gloves and still make it to his place in the carpool line if I... if someone were not there to prompt him. Wasn't this simply a matter of personal preferences, I asked?

No!

A letter - a firm letter - went home from the school after the New Year reminding us of the Drop-Off and Pick-Up Policy. Reminding? I read this and felt like Patrick with his surprise stash of uncompleted online math quizzes. This had been mentioned before? Who knew?

So I registered first shock and then consternation. Shock because I never realized that a policy even existed and consternation because when I read the damned thing it clearly states that we who drive need to go through the carpool pick-up line to fetch our children. Or else. Or else what you ask? As far as I can tell from the newsletter, the consquence of failing to comply seems to be that the combination of snowbanks and heedless pedestrians (crossing, I would like to add in my defense, at the crosswalk and assisted by a crossing guard but whatever) will inevitably cause a schoolbus to plow into a skein of baby geese.

I forwarded the letter to Steve, who shrugged and said I should park wherever I like and be damned to them. Steve, however, is a good-looking rebel who plays by his own rules whereas I am a Rule Follower. The idea of parking and walking under the disapproving gaze of so many idling eyes was too much for me. So I told Patrick on Monday that I would be getting him via the carpool pick-up lane after school and he would therefore need to have all of his stuff organized before the bell rang in order to present himself in the correct line on time.

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

We communed silently for a while and then I said, "Ok, right, that will never work. How about I meet you at the corner of that church parking lot adjacent to the playing fields?"

He agreed that would probably be for the best.

I added, "Tell no one. Come alone. Knock three times for admittance."

That afternoon I pulled nervously (Rule Follower, people) into the church parking lot and waited. A few minutes later a carpool'esque vehicle pulled into the spot next to me. I thought, a-ha, another outlaw and I grinned at her. She looked back with such outrage that I turned hastily away. When I glanced back she was still glaring at me. Remember the airplane scene in The Twilight Zone when the guy looks out the window? It was like that. So I pretended that I was very busy reading the influenza vaccine health sheet that I had just gotten and was relieved when Patrick finally appeared and climbed into the car. As I looked up the woman glowered at me again. Then it seemed as if she were about to - horrors! - roll her window down to address me so I beat a hasty retreat. As I looked into my rear view mirror I saw that she was pulling out as well, but that she had done so in order to join the very end of the carpool line.

Whoops. Not a fellow radical at all, just a mom who knew her child was going to be exiting late and did not want to inconvenience anyone by placing herself into the carpool lane too early.

Shameful. I am full of shame.

Yesterday I was leaving to pick Patrick up from school and I stopped into Steve's office to let him know I that he was in charge of the twins.

I said, "Oh, and I'm taking the blue car."

Steve said, "OK."

I started to leave and then said, "Aren't you going to ask me why I am taking the blue car?" and Steve said, "Because you are hiding from that woman in the parking lot yesterday and you hope by changing cars she won't recognize you."

First, I am an idiot. Second, he knows me so well. Third, I also wore a hat. And mirrored sunglasses.

PS And I am still breaking The Rules.

Comments

[Paula]

Seriously you are awesome cause you make me LOL about the most odd things.

[Ellen]

This is like a Seinfeld episode. I can't wait to find out what hilarity might ensue as the result of taking the blue car.

[Jessica]

TeeHee :-) I love this because I do the same type of stuff. Rule breaking, but only when they are stupid rules put in place by ridiculous people and breaking them won't possibly hurt anyone. I mean, what would they rather? You block the lane waiting for your kid to get his stuff together and be in the right place at exactly the right time when you both know that simply won't happen, or just park off in the corner somewhere out of the way and allow him to get to you in his own time? Seems like a no-brainer to me, so I would keep on with it. If a school administrator asks about it directly then I would tell them the issues with the policy as it is and leave it at that. As for the stink-eye lady, who cares. You know she is just hating on you because she WANTS to do the same thing but doesn't have the, eh-hem, strength of character to stick it to the man :-)
Also, the exchange with Steve cracks me up because that is exactly what would have taken place between me and my husband.

[Heather]

If you haven't done so already, you MUST read "Where'd you go, Bernadette?"

http://www.amazon.com/Whered-You-Go-Bernadette-Novel/dp/0316256196

It made me laugh out loud as much as you do, and there is a glorious carpool line chapter I think you would relate to. And she wears sunglasses too, is that you on the cover?

[SparkleP]

My carpool line nemesis drives a large white Escalade. Her hair is tackily bleached, she wears leggings as pants (and clearly not underwear which i am all for except maybe in the elementary school morning drop off line where the rest of the world is wearing pj's) and I think she tans. It's New England in January for fuck's sake. My husband and I have a whole persona and dialogue for her. The drama of the carpool line is epic!

I am a rule follower, too, but I am also for making the system more efficient and convenient - for me!! If the church parking lot works for you then do it. But if parking and walking also works and is easier, I would do that. The other parents you meet doing the same are likely the fun ones and you can glare at the carpool nazis together!

[Angela]

My daughter rode the bus to her first school, until we moved out of the neighborhood one April. She ended out the year at that school and I began dropping off and picking up. The school was so over-crowded that there were 5 pick-up spots at the beginning of the carpool line, and you were required to have a sign with your child's name in your front window. As you pulled ahead they assigned you a spot, then called your child's name and the spot number with a bullhorn. It seemed so militant but it was effective.
Now, at her new and much smaller school, if you pull in the lane and are blocking the second (last) turn into the parking rows you are required to park and walk up. I always do; I hate sitting there getting 0 mpg and waiting for my oblivious kids to recognize our blue mini-van from the several identical models in line.

[Alexicographer]

Hmmm. Isn't that interesting.

If there is available on-street parking that people are allowed to, you know, park in then I am mystified as to how the fact that you are parking to pick up a child from school as opposed to, say, parking so that you can go for a brisk jog around the block could possibly matter. "Parking available for everyone UNLESS they are picking up a child from school?" I don't think so. I mean, really!

Full disclosure: I live in a neighborhood near a largish (by local standards) public school that my son (now) attends, and a few years ago one of our neighbors organized and had the town put up no-parking/no pickup/droppoff signs in our neighborhood because people were pulling off the street in our neighborhood to wait for their kids (not parking here and walking to the school). I was in no way involved in the effort and don't think I would have supported it (I think we were out of town at the time or something, as I know I didn't have to refuse to sign a petition which I otherwise likely would have, or to have signed on of course), though honestly I see both sides. We are in an older neighborhood with narrow streets (not up to current standards and basically just wide enough to allow 2 cars to pass, with no curbs and no sidewalks, so if people pull over they are messing up our grass (a non-issue for my household but not for all our neighbors), blocking the street if 2 cars going opposite directions come along (fairly unlikely, it's a quiet place, but not of course impossible) and potentially putting kids walking or biking to or from school in danger. BUT, just to be clear, the signs are in fact uniform not only in their application to EVERYONE who might feel inclined to park on the streets of our neighborhood whatever their motivation but also, they apply at all times (which is actually kind of a nuisance at least conceptually because if one is having people over ... though they are not really enforced, especially on weekend evenings).

So, main point, if parking is public parking it should be available to all members of the public, including, gasp!, parents of school children, and conversely, if there is a need to limit parking near a school for safety reasons it should surely apply to all prospective parkers (at least within appropriate time windows) even if it happens to be true that at school dropoff/pickup time, parents are on average more likely to want to use those parking spaces than are others. So there.

[sarah k]

That is the dumbest rule I have ever heard. There is too much bureaucracy in this world. I say pick up your child however you see fit; he's your child. He is not the property of the school. Flout the rules!

Ahem. But I myself am a rule follower. So I'm not sure what I would actually do if I had to live this situation instead of just opining on it from afar!

[bp]

Details. We need daily details on how this goes.

My suggestion? Go through all your paperwork and see if there is ANYTHING that states you have to sit in the line. If not, then by simple implication you can park and walk.

the response to any conversation is that you assumed the letter was addressed to those that were sitting in the line and by JOVE!! you are ALL for THEM following the rules.

Unless and until they come up with a direct policy AGAINST the park and stroll.....

but, i spent a bit of time in the Marines and learned a few things about rules.

#1 Know all the rules (so you can pick and choose the ones you want to break)

#2 It's easier to apologize then ask permission. Make them address the issue SPECIFICALLY, and then make them show it to you in the original paperwork. If they can NOT....oh. wait. i'm repeating myself.

[Erika]

Our school has the same sort of rules, and the same warnings of terrible consequences for those who break them. If your kid is a walker, they may not meet cars in the neighborhood—and so, if you have an appt after school, you can't say to your kid "I'll meet you halfway home and then we'll get in the car." Your option is to wait until they walk home, or wait in the interminable car line. My theory is that these are 4th and 5th graders, and they presumably know not to get into cars with strangers. And so, rule breaker that I am, I tell my daughter I'll meet her a block or two from school. I then drive down, park the car, and walk to meet her—that way she's not meeting a car, she's meeting me, right?

My husband is convinced, though, that we're going to be yelled at some day...

[Anne]

Have you considered making a fuss by being a rebel with a different (and, ideally, pc) cause?
E.g., like writing a letter to the editor about the gas wasted idling (global warming issue, people), and the need for exercise (schools surely don't want to risk promoting diabetes and cardiovascular issues, do they? This walk could be half of a parent's 30 minutes per day!)

[andrea]

It just cracks me up to know that school pick lane drama is a universal constant...all of us...all over the country...with our own distinct sets of characters, arbitrary rules and needs, and yet, all of us in the same boat (I mean, car.)

[kara]

I'm a Rule Follower too. I read this post with eyes as wide as saucers (no kids, no frame of reference). It dismays me that something as ridiculous as this could cause someone to glower and glare and snarl at you like that for so very long. Ugh!

Also, I *love* your disguise!

[moved far away]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but this story reminds me so much of what it was like when I lived in Minnesota. Crazy rules can be everywhere, but the other parents getting mad at you for breaking them when it makes perfect sense to - that's pure MN.

[RocketGrl]

Ha! The scorn of the pick up line moms. You reminded me of the school pick up/ drop off scenes in Mr Mom starring Michael Keaton.

Go forth and rebel!

[Becky in MN]

Ha! I love the drama. When my daughter was in her preschool they had a policy of parents waiting in cars in line, until a staff member would physically escort your child from/to the car. Our independent snowflake did not need assistance, so we would just send her out of the car instead of waiting in the silly car line. Oh, the outrage! Fortunately, we lived close enough and my husband is just the type to make this his project so every day he tried to come up with a different way to drop her off or pick her up: walking, city bus, scooter, motorcycle, bicycle, and one day he borrowed the neighbor's dog and hooked her up to a sled and the dog pulled her to school. He SO wanted to rent a horse but never made it happen.

I just don't see why anyone cares if you walk in as long as your child is being picked up by the authorized person. That glaring lady needs to get a grip.

[Lori]

Even though I dare not break The Rules, I was gifted with children who by their very nature can NOT be carpool line children. You would think the autistic special needs one would be the harder of the two to corral and he's no picnic with liney sorts of things. It's his brother, however, the one with no issues except for the fact that he not only marches to the beat of his own drum...it's that his drum has no beat to begin with...that's an issue. He just makes up beats as he goes. And he's terminally excited. "Mom! Did you see that boy with the dinosaur shirt?" Did you see that car that almost hit you? "Mom! I saw this book on the library cart and had to make sure they saved it for me for tomorrow and they said they would and..." And and and and...and he's going to be killed one day in a tragic accident because someone was hollering about an oncoming train and he's the only one that isn't paying any attention. He's too flipping excited. After three years, they're now off my back about walking in to retrieve him. It's such a silly thing, too. As a former school admin we had an atrocious car line and they dedicated more hours to discussing it than I care to remember. In the end, it was what it was and everyone did their thing.

[Robin from Israel]

I have to say I'm a bit stunned at all of this. Here in Israel it's taken for granted that by third grade (or less if you have an older sibling), unless you live way out in the country and are bussed, that your children will walk themselves both to and from school. On their own. Without a grownup. And yes, carrying that heavy backpack. Both of my kids (2 different schools, long story) walk about 10 minutes each way, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. And it's fine. By that age they're perfectly capable of it if taught basic safety and given the chance to try. The miniscule dropoff lanes are really only used for the smallest children. Unless it's raining, in which case all bets are off, since Israelis are convinced their special snowflakes (and themselves) will melt in the rain. Seriously, we had a major storm here this week and you'd have thought it was the Apocalypse. People are far more afraid of rain than of rockets...

[Robin from Israel]

PS Like Patrick, both of mine also have their spacier moments. Yes, they occasionally forget (fill in item of choice) periodically, but after it happens a few times they start getting the hang of it. I figure it helps them learn to become more organized, natural consequences, etc. I gave them ownership of this and stopped making it my issue years ago. Very freeing, and for the most part they've risen to the occasion.

[Hetty Fauxvert]

This is the sort of thing that makes me smile smugly and think, "I 'heart' homeschooling!" LOL!

(Oh, but you must keep writing about this stuff! Because I am indeed addicted to your blog and the Saga of the Hippogriffs. ;o)

[Lisa]

Hot and smart. He's got it all.

[Betty M]

I find the whole car pool and carpool line thing mystifying. Firstly because I though car pools were supposed to be groups of people using the same car but all the tales seem to relate to individual families in one car. I dread to think what your Rules people would think about different kids each day getting in and out of the same car. I also don't get the line thing either. What do the neighbours think of these endless lines of nearly stationary cars spewing out fumes cluttering up the neighbourhood? Here in my UK big city any cars doing drop offs are seriously frowned upon. The school catchments are tiny so to be legitimately in it (and there is a whole other story) means a 10 min walk maximum with the slowest of 3 year olds so really there is no reason at all to drive.

I'm for ignoring this stupid rule. What jurisdiction does the school have over the streets anyway? None I would wager.

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[Suzanne V]

Oh, I can relate so well to the changing-of-the-cars solution...

But this whole carpool-line business really mystifies me. People are encouraged to stay in their cars instead of getting out and actually meeting other human beings? Over here (Netherlands) driving instead of cycling or walking is generally discouraged, but that is another discussion. Anyhow, as long as you can park legally, please don't let the school hold you back. But from one rule follower to the other: maybe park just a little bit further down the road? ;-)

[Crystal]

Thus illustrating why I homeschool. My kids at their worst are so much less irritating than senseless bureaucracy. And I have the patience of a...

None. No patience whatsoever.

So is Patrick managing to gather his stuff together in a timely manner? I'm sure the whole covert ops thing can help.

[Steph]

I don't get it . . if you aren't hindering the car line in any way . . why does anybody care what you do? I glare at the people who get in the car line, put the car in park and get out to do who knows what . . but the people who aren't in the car line . . I don't care what they do. Our car line is massive and it takes about 40 minutes to get through. I dread it. More power to you and parking and getting your kid.

[CanadianTeacher]

This sounds nuts to me!
About half the kids at my school (I'm a teacher) take the bus. The rest can theoretically walk, but most are driven to school. The problem is that in Canada (as far as I know) there is no carpool lane. Instead the parents park in the parking lot taking up spots for teachers and idling (in front of the "idle free zone" for up to half an hour in the morning so their precious snowflakes don't have to wait outside for the entry bell.

Earlier this week, at 1pm (middle of the day) there was ONE empty parking spot in the school lot, so a teacher who has to drop off kids or is running late in the morning is guarenteed to be forced to double park, or block the fire lane. Some days you can't even turn into our school lot (and we have two!) and it is so crowded that once you pull in, if you don't find a spot, there is no where to turn around.

[Bad Egg]

Sounds like it's time for a Carpool Insurrection, with you at the helm!

[Becky]

That's a really dumb rule. Would you be comfortable making a personal crusade on stupidity?

I would

a- talk to the principal to try to find out more about the source of the rule? Have fledgling ducks actually been injured? Is this a district policy? Does it have to do with insurance? See where the wiggle room is.

b- discuss the growing problem of childhood obesity with every parent you encounter. Mention how the school should really Do Something to encourage children to walk more. Foment revolution.

c- Maybe join the PTA/PTO/whatever and see if you can start a "walking bus" It's where a bunch of kids, supervised by parents walk together to get home. It sidesteps the "don't ever let children be unsupervised, even for 1/2 a block" issue while also helping with the ridiculous number of kids that wind up being driven to school.

d- Have your walking bus stop be the Church parking lot.

[kimc]

I alternate, depends on I'd the 2 year old is asleep in the back seat. If she is, or should be, we sit in pick up like for about 20 minutes, car off.(we live in Florida) if she is awake, we park and walk up. And sometimes I bike. Honesty, both options are a mess at our school- if you aren't early to car line, you'll be in a looooooooooong line. People who are later to park and walk tend to park blocking people in. And there is ONE truck that parks backwards, with the bed completely over the sidewalk, so they jack up the biking situation.

[Amy]

Drop off and pick up "rules" mystify me. Back in NJ, there was a car drop off line. But you could totally walk your kid if you wanted. I hated pick up though. You HAD to park and walk, no car line at all. When my oldest was in kindergarten, his younger sister would huddle and cry during bitter cold days while we were waiting for the teacher to finally let the kids go.
We just moved to Florida and my kids start school on Monday. Interested to see what procedure is there. It looks like a park-and-walk only. At least no one will be crying because of cold.

[vanessa]

just do whatever the hell you want, its your damn kid. sheesh.
also, this made me think of Where'd You Go Bernadette, which you should read right this very second. go.

[Abby]

I hate rules that are only meant to maintain control. I'm with Vanessa. Do whatever you want and just let them try to stop you! (I'm a rebel, too, apparently.)

[txmama]

We, too, are rebels and park and walk to pick up. Julia, have you considered parking a bit further away and walking up? Sometimes we park a block or two away. To those talking about the way it is in other countries - where children walk to school - that sounds great. A lot of American kids go to schools which are unfortunately too far away to walk to (which I'm pretty sure is the case for Patrick as well).

In Japan, children are required to walk to school (or take the train to school) alone by the age of SIX. As in, no parents can even walk with them. For realz. So it's supremely awesome to be out and about before and after school and see all these tiny kids navigating themselves just fine.

[jen]

Mine will start K this coming Fall and I was scanning through the information and yes, we have Rules too; however, ours has a specific place for those that do want to park so it seems to me that there should be the ability to do both. It seems like a waste of resources and time all around to have to sit in the drop off lane.

[SarahB]

I do remember the incident from last year and being mystified at the whole process...a year later our school district has had some big issues over changing the bus system, and I have seen the drama ensue on our neighborhood listserv and some local publications. Our son is only a toddler, but I can see being in a position where I would have been up in arms for sure. We live in a "walkable" area that promotes public transport and using cars less...and also a ton of traffic, so parents legitimately worry.

[Ellie]

This is the sort of thing that makes me freak out (inside) and feel nauseous. Mind, I homeschool, so it's not an issue for me personally, but .... Ugh. I don't know that I would advise a confrontational route with the admin .... Just park a few blocks away, do a walk-up pick-up. Are there **any** students at this school who live in the neighborhood?? Is there **anyone** who walks to/from school? Surely the school does not have a Rule which states that All students Must be picked up by Car, Always? And so .... You and Patrick both walk a couple of blocks ....? As for Glaring Lady, oh babe, life is too short. Ignore her.

[Jessica]

One of my friends had to go to the school board to GET PERMISSION to walk her kid home sometimes. They live in Charleston, SC, where weather is gorgeous most of the time, and they live a mile from the school. So sometimes, she wants to walk to pick her up, and sometimes she wants to drive and she was going to put a note in the bag explaining which it would be each morning, and NOPE! The school said she had to pick one or the other - NO CHANGING! EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!

She went to the school board, and they let her change it up, but seriously. Common sense, people.

[Tine]

I'm a native Minnesotan, and I don't get it. Don't get the rule, don't get the hate. Do what seems right to you and ignore the haters, I say! Bonus points for fomenting revolution!

Becky in MN... I think we know each other; our daughters went to that (wonderful but occasionally quirky) preschool together. Code word: flying squirrels. Yes? :)

[MJ]

I would be inclined to write back to the school (with a copy to the local paper, if one exists) saying something about getting a "reminder" of a "policy" of which you had never been given notice before - but aside from the issue of when or whether this supposed "policy" came into existence, it is just bad policy. Then I would talk about the values that all of us presumably share, like keeping our children safe, making sure that they are picked up by the appropriate people, minimizing damage to the environment, etc., and then go to how these values are not, in fact, best served by having a line of cars idling outside the school, but how a better approach instead would be to encourage people to walk their children to school (or, heaven forfend, let them walk themselves), or to park in the available spots on the street and pick up their children, while of course carefully obeying traffic and parking laws and using the crosswalks. Can you tell that I'm a lawyer? Of course if people want to drop their kids off and pick them up without parking they should have to be in the official line, but to purport to require people not to park is ridiculous.

[Stefanie]

As a Swiss native, I'm with Robin from Israel. The Kids in Switzerland are required at the age of five to walk to and from School by themselves. They learn quickly, to take their belongings with them.

[Nik]

I agree with MF. This seems like a cause you should perhaps take up. How is this good for the environment? All those cars idling, idling, idling all day? How is waiting in the car to pick up your kid a good role model for exercise? I would be making appointments with the principal to get this policy changed!!! Citizens unite!
(Also. I assume, like at our school, you're not allowed to enter to school to pick up the kids. How do you help Patrick get all his stuff from outside the building?)

[Slim]

You need to work on being amused by Glaring Lady. Seeing her should give you the giggles, because honestly, what a loon. This is a woman who cares whether another mother is letting a child walk a few blocks to get picked up from a vast empty parking lot. I would say she needs a hobby, but she would probably spend a lot of time appalled by other women's inadequate scrapbooking techniques.

So let her off with a cheery wave and a big cheesy smile the next time you see her. Get Patrick to join in.

I agree with asking to see the rule and then, if it actually exists, writing a strongly worded letter about emissions and greenhouse gasses and the evils of the carpool line. Or at least the evils of mandatory carpool line.

[Arnebya]

I want you to stand outside of that school with a goddamned sign with Patrick's name on it like you're picking him up from the airport. I know, I know, The Rules, but I have rule issues. I am a decided rule breaker (although, yes, I break the rules then duck and hide or I break the rules and tell no one but my husband.) It just seems odd to me that there's a "policy" on pick-up. You aren't harming anyone by parking. Why must you conform to a Stepford-like line o' cars? Tell them they're killing the environment with their silly idling.

Next time wear a wig and heels.

[Kristin]

I'm wondering if Julia originally parked in the school parking lot along side the drop off/pick up lane and walked in to do the pick up/drop off. That's how it works at my kids' school. If you don't follow the drop off line, you're driving around cars that are waiting for kids (in an already over crowded lot), making the line stop and wait as you pull back out of the parked spots and walking back and forth through the line, so I do understand the rule at our school. (in fact, I must confess to sometimes having bad thoughts about the rule-breakers!) Although, I certainly don't see a problem with the church parking lot idea! :)

[Slim]

Kristin, Julia's reference to "on-street parking" makes me think she was not on school property originally, just next to it.

[Nancy]

Groucho Marx Glasses always make a good disguise.

[Laura]

Employee of big urban school district, here. Old schools were not designed to accommodate modern drop-off. We have site-specific "valet" programs and drop-off/pick-up zones to avoid squished kids. That said, I still think you should be able to park and pick up your kid, as long as your doing so does not interfere with drop-off/pick-up traffic. At most of our schools,though, there ain't no parking, on campus or off, within a reasonable distance. And you risk dealing with gang members and pit bulls and random shots fired. But that's another post!

[Tripta]

I went to school alone from the time I was nine years old. On public transport. With a bus change. But then, I live in India, so there's that.
The last bit cracked me up. Do keep us posted!

[elzimmy]

I had to battle it out when my girls were in elementary school because they wanted me to go through the car line when we live ACROSS THE STREET. I can see the school from my house and they can walk home if less than 5 minutes. I refused to drive less than a tenth of a mile to wait in some crazy ass line when I just wanted my kid to meet me at the edge of the parking lot.

I won that battle and other parents on the street quickly followed suit. Then the next year they even got a crossing guard for all the kids who walk home. Imagine that? What a novel idea.