Dude... where's my car?

Last Friday I was running late for work..... again.   

Again, despite my futile attempts to the contrary.  Drat my alien teenagers!

 

It was 7:45 am and I still had to stop by Publix.  It couldn't be put off.  

I pulled into a spot and hurried inside to get what I needed. 

As I hurried back out, I noticed a man standing right where I had parked my car.  My first thought was, "Okay, why is this guy standing right where I parked my car?"   My second thought was, "Wait, WHERE is my car?  I know I parked it there!"

I looked to the right and saw my car "parked" on the next row over.  Parked against another car.  Apparently had I left my baby in neutral and naturally it rolled downhill into another car. 

I walked over to it wondering what to do.  It was about 8:10 am and no one was around.

I went back inside Publix and headed to the first manger-type person I could find.  I told him what happened.  

Ryan immediately began helping.  He went back out with me and told me to call the Sheriff's department to report the accident.  He told me that Publix employees generally park in the same area of the parking lot (which coincidentally was NOT where my car ended up) so it may be a car belonging to one of the other businesses sharing the same complex.  But as a precaution, he said he would do a page over the system.

Turns out that the car belonged to the cashier, Sheree, who had checked me out.  IRONIC, YES??

So Ryan took over Sheree's duties so she could come outside with me to wait for the Sheriff to come and do a report.  Believe me I was impressed... totally impressed.  Publix is awesome on so many levels.

But isn't it funny how my life keeps messing with me?

A driving lesson

Jessica just turned 15.

That means, of course, she is ready to learn how to drive... and boy is she ready.

She has been ready since she was two.

Of course, her wanting to drive immediately prompted Jason to ask to drive again. He hasn't driven since he got his restricted license eight months after his 15th birthday. He just hasn't had any interest.

So I took him out for a lesson yesterday. He started out great, remembering the clutch/gas feel from all those months ago, and we were off. We headed down my street toward the park. At the stop sign he had to either turn right or left. Straight meant running through a fence and into a tree.

He opted for left and proceeded into action. As he released the clutch, he floored the gas faster than he was turning the steering wheel and, as you can imagine, my heart stayed back at the stop sign.

SLOW DOWN!!!... STOP THE GAS!!!... BRAKE!!!

I can't remember what I yelled but I yelled and he made the turn just shy of totaling my car.

We continued down that road and, after getting an earful of advice, he turned left at the next road up. We travelled up that road with no problems until another car appeared. I could see panic sweeping over his face. To compensate for the approaching car, Jason began to inch the car toward the right side of the road. After a few "inches," however, I couldn't help notice how close we were to hitting mail boxes and such, so I told him to move over.

move over.... Jason, Move Over... MOVE OVER!!!

The car made it past us but the recycle bin on my right didn't.

I got out of the car and walked to the recycle bin. As I lifted it back up to a standing position thanking GOD no one saw the incident, I looked up to see a teenage girl staring at me from the porch and asking me if the can was okay.

I told her it wasn't dented, that it was okay, and explained that my son was a new driver.

She laughed and said, that's okay... "when my younger sister began driving she took out a mailbox on the street over," pointing to the street just behind her.

As I listened, I remembered an incident several years earlier when I lived on that 'street over' and had come home from work to find my mailbox in three million pieces. And I remembered the young girl who was so upset and was literally shoving money in my face to replace it and I said...

...that was me.

Ironic. Don't ya think?