After twenty years of driving you would think I would know how to pull up to a curb in front of a parked car without incident. You would think that, but you wouldn't be correct. Tuesday afternoon I tried to pull up to the curb in front of a parked car and did indeed have an incident.
I say incident, because it wasn't really enough of a deal to be an accident, although it certainly was an accident. I wasn't meaning to hit the four door sedan sitting there so innocently, parked across the street from the park. It was Tuesday and I was dropping Sonya off at Girl Scouts after picking her up from school and violin practice. My Tuesdays are always crazy. Her Girl Scout meetings are at a little cabin next to the park. I usually pull up to the curb, she hops out and goes to the cabin as I watch her. This time I had to park on the opposite side of the street, because there was no parking on the side near the park. Therefore I was going to have to get out and walk her across the street.
I finally found a suitable spot and started to pull up to it. I saw the car sitting next to me. It's not like I didn't. I'm not even sure how it happened. I mean sure I've been crazy busy for a month now and had a ton on my mind so I was distracted in that sense, but it's Christmas! Who isn't? It's not like I wasn't texting or talking on the phone. I wasn't even yelling at the girls, but all of a sudden as I'm pulling in front of this car I hear,
EEEEEEESSSCRREEESSSSSSHHHH! CRUMPLE CRUMPLE EEEEEE.....
At first I had no idea what I was hearing. Then I did. So this is what happened next.
"SHIT! FUCK! DAMN!"
Yes, that was me saying some VERY bad words in front of all three of my girls. They were out of my mouth before I could stop them. I immediately followed it up with,
"Those are very bad words girls! Don't ever say them! Mommy shouldn't have said them!"
Then another,
"Fuck!"
I mean since they had already heard it, might as well get another one in there.
Then they started asking me what happened. They were wondering what made me react in such a way, not to mention the noise they heard. I told them I accidentally hit the car behind us as I was pulling up to the curb.
I was frazzled, but got Sonya of of the van, across the street and headed to her Girl Scout meeting. Lana and Georgia kept questioning what was going on and what I was doing.
What I was doing was assessing the damage to both cars. My van had a big scratch down the side, but in all honesty, that side didn't look so good before anyway. It wasn't bad. Huh. Maybe the other car wasn't bad either and I could pretend like this WHOLE thing never happened. Nope. The other car had a giant noticeable scratch too. Enough to know that it wasn't there before, but not horrible. Something that could easily be fixed. I hoped.
So I did what I knew was the right thing to do. The thing that would make sure Karma wouldn't track me down and hit my van with a big rig. I left a note on the windshield. Maybe the person wouldn't bother calling though. There was still hope I could pretend this never happened. Except he did call. Luckily he was a very understanding considerate man. He had been at the park playing with his kid when it happened. He told me that he googled my name since I left the note and found this blog. Then he said to me,
"You're really busy, so why don't you just call your insurance company and have them deal with this, then you don't have to worry about it. I just have one child and know how hard it is. I can't imagine three!"
I found it amusing that he thinks I'm so busy after reading a bit of my blog. What would lead him to think that I wonder? I find it even more amusing that people can google me and come upon this website and look! One accident and I have a new reader. (Hi Mychael!) Perhaps I should hit more people parked near parks since they most likely have children. Although my insurance rates would most likely increase, which would sorta defeat the purpose I suppose.
Anyway, my insurance company was great, they are dealing with it and it's off my plate. I am sorry that this nice guy has to deal with getting his car fixed. He did tell me he worked freelance, and since he's slow right now this would give him something to do. See I helped him out! Just spreading the cheer everywhere this holiday season!
I didn't tell Andy at first, because he had a lot going on the day it happened. Plus I wanted to get all the information I needed about what, if anything, it would cost us and how to proceed. I knew I would eventually have to tell him, not because of the scratch on the side of the van he'd probably never notice that, but because I had three eyewitnesses who would surely rat me out at some point. Not to mention the fact that someday when one of them drops the F bomb, he's going to be wondering where they heard it. GUILTY. It sucks too, because I'm usually so good at watching my language around them. Oh well, as long as we're not in public if they do say it we'll be all good. Otherwise you'll be reading about it on here.
I will try to be more careful from now on. Not that I'm not usually careful. In fact my insurance company said my rates would most likely not increase, because this wasn't that bad. Also because, as they put it, I've had a "boring record" for the past fourteen years. I did have a couple speeding tickets and was nabbed with a rolling stop when I was younger. Now I'm a good driver. I do fear I have made my girls a bit nervous in the car now though. Later that day when I went to pick Sonya up from Girl Scouts, I had to turn around in the middle of the street. During my three point turn I got close to a parked car and Lana said,
"Watch out Mommy! You don't wan to hit dat car!"
Thanks Lana. Where were YOU two hours before?
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