The Subaru Exception

Baritones and parking garages

My husband and I have five children but only four athletes.

My husband coaches football and our boys all played. They had broken collar bones and fractured wrists and torn ACLs and meniscus tears to prove it. A few concussions for good measure.

My youngest son had a severe fraction on the field his sophomore year…his foot ended up facing the wrong direction. While waiting in the ER for an Xray, the nurses kept popping in to get a look at the gruesome injury that eventually needed metal pins to fix. And so much physical therapy.

I was always on edge during football season. Every time a kid went down on the field, I scanned the numbers of the boys still standing until I found out it was not my kid lying on the ground. If it were my kid, I’d make my way down from the stands to the field to see what we were dealing with. The walk of horror.

I was glad when the boys ended high school sports with their bodies mostly intact.

Our middle son played five more years in college and my misery was extended. Finally, though, I can say we have no more kids on the football field.

Thank the gods. It’s over.

Our fifth child, a daughter, came into the world loving music and theater. She sang verse after verse of Mary Had a Little Lamb well before her second birthday. She loved musicals as a toddler. We were older parents with her. I was 20 when I delivered my first baby and 37 when I delivered our last. The caboose.

I don’t mind that she doesn’t love sports. Fewer ER visits and no head trauma.

She is in the local young players group and plays the baritone horn. I was never in band so I am clueless at every turn in her band journey. But I support her and her love of music and theater .

She recently played “A Tuba Christmas” in Kansas City at the Kauffman Center. It’s a gorgeous venue. Especially for a small-town middle schooler.

The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Kansas City, Missouri.

As you can imagine, I don’t park in parking garages all that often. I live in a rural town of 480 people. I am not in the city that much and even when I am, I am rarely in a space large enough to need a parking garage. The Kauffman Center is that space though.

I was driving around the Kauffman Center to find street parking and I realized it would just be easier to pay the $16 and park in the garage.

Here we go…country mouse in a maze.

I grabbed the parking ticket from the kiosk and started inside the garage. It was pretty busy with over 400 performers and their parents and grandparents packing into the garage. I drove up a level to find a spot. I parked and walked around the corner to jump on the elevator up to the event space.

The usher at the elevator told everyone, “You are on level 3.” Okay…I am on level 3. Easy.

I know what you may think 400 tubas and baritones and euphoniums sound like playing in concert, but I bet you’re wrong. It was breathtaking — a gorgeous Christmas program and I am so glad my daughter was able to perform with professional symphony players. It was something she’ll never forget.

I took a few photos of her in the beautiful space with her horn and then we headed down the escalator and then the elevator and then to level 3 in the parking garage.

Hmm…I didn’t see my small SUV. But each level of the garage is pretty big so I started walking the entire level using my key fob to honk my horn.

No horn honking. No car.

I decided to go up to the next level. I mean, no one stole my car…I am just directionally challenged underground. I kept walking and pushing my fob. My daughter was following me, eating her packed lunch as we walked. She had finished her sandwich and asked if I lost the car.

Of course not…well, surely not.

She had finished her chips and muffin and we were still walking in the garage. She was paying more attention now. The garage was almost empty. A huge empty parking garage in the city and me and my daughter aimlessly walking in circles.

Mom of the year.

A woman in a Subaru pulled up and said she noticed that we seemed lost. She asked if we had lost our car and when I said I was still looking, she offered to drive us through the garage to find it. Now, I am no dummy who accepts rides from total strangers, but I remembered a story I had read about a politician knocking doors and the “Subaru Exception.”

Jeff Jackson was a Democratic Congressman from North Carolina — he is now the AG. He became viral on TikTok with his no-nonsense approach to politics and people. He knocked a lot of doors in his campaign and he made a video about the Subaru Exception.

If you’ve ever knocked doors for a politician or an issue, you know you have a list. My lists are from a voter database (VAN) which includes the names and addresses of registered voters in my district. I knock doors in a very red district, so my lists include Democrats, Independents, and “moderate” Republicans.

I usually stick to my list so I don’t end up at an unfriendly or dangerous door.

Jeff Jackson did the same, with one caveat…he knocked every house with a Subaru parked outside.

He said he sticks to the list unless there is a house with a Subaru. He knocks every door with a Subaru because, after knocking thousands of doors, he realized he’s never met an unfriendly Subaru driver. He also said they are often Democrats or left-leaning. In his experience, they are often concerned about the environment and love animals and public education.

Congressman Jackson went on to say, “This also applies to people who have hand-painted front doors, people who have multiple bird feeders, have homemade yard art, or have painted any part of their house purple. Those are all Subaru Exceptions.”

I agree. I always knock Subaru houses. Even if they aren’t on my list.

Back to the garage: I did not end up accepting the ride in the parking garage, but it wasn’t because I was scared. There is no one more trustworthy than a woman in a Subaru. It was because I was embarrassed and just knew my car had to be right around the corner. I didn’t want to put her out.

The Subaru lady ended up driving away and talking to a police officer in the garage who followed us until I found the car. On level 4.

I was completely turned around. The elevator attendant was right…I had parked on 4 and then turned the corner to board the elevator on 3.

From now on, I will take a picture of where I park.

I felt like a hick. A hayseed. Stupid. But, the good news is we were safe and sound and on our way home thanks to the persistence of the Subaru lady.

*By the way, she kept circling the parking garage behind the police officer just to make sure we made it out alive if he became bored looking for my car.

Bless her.

I like the Subaru Exception. I like that there are hallmarks that make someone seem more trustworthy. More helpful. More human.

I have to tell you that I knocked on doors with welcome mats that actually told me to go away. Or had “We don’t call the police” signs with a gun pictured just in case I didn’t get the hint.

Knocking doors can be fun and it can be awful, but it’s a must in politics and always a crapshoot if you go off list.

Unless you spot a Subaru. Long live the Subie folks.

~Jess

Postscript: I do not own a Subaru and am unaffiliated. This was not a commercial :)

Another Postscript: Jeff Jackson is now the AG for North Carolina. I apologize for my error.