What a weird 24 hours it has been.
Michael was in a car accident last night. He is fine. Car, not so much. Don't want to say more, but he was really bummed. I was just very thankful he is unhurt. I told him, cars can be replaced, unlike people.
I also told him not to beat himself up about it. Everyone I know has a car accident story. That's why teenager car insurance is so pricey.
When I was 19 my dad bought me a VW Beetle, a car I'd always wanted. It was a stick shift. I had no idea how to drive it, and lessons didn't help - what I thought was 1st gear was actually 3rd, or something like that... I was on a residential street trying to get up a hill and another car t-boned me. I have a nice scar on my elbow as a result. The angels were watching out for me though, because I wasn't seriously hurt. The car was totaled.
For the next 3 years I drove junker cars my dad got off the bank's repo lot. He could always find me a junk car to drive. I learned how to change tires, how to check oil, add water, etc.
It was only when I'd finished college and was back home and working that I was able to get a halfway decent car, a VW Rabbit. When it got over 60 mph it shuddered. I was just happy that I wasn't embarrassed to be seen driving it.
When my brother got his first decent little car, a Datsun, he didn't have it long. He totaled it on an icy mountain road one night and had to hike to the nearest place with a phone and call dad. It happened to be the Cocke County [TN] sheriff's office. Dad was horrified to get that call, until Bruce busted out laughing and explained what happened. Bruce had been lucky that he'd had jump school training and knew how to tuck his body so that when the car rolled down the mountain he wasn't hurt.
My mother is the only person I know who has never been in a car accident, not even a "fender bender." She bumped the side of the garage once, I think, but that damage was very minor.
My brother came in this afternoon and we will celebrate his birthday tonight. It's always good for Michael to hang out with Uncle Bruce.
love this photo made by my buddy Elizabeth Harper in England
