And Now the Rest of the Story

As promised here is the story:




I could leave it at that, but what fun would that be. Alan had to go to the dentist. He took J's car because she was parked behind him. J wanted to go to her friends house to pick-up something. I told her it did not matter which car she took; words I have come to regret. She came in the house and said "I knocked the mirror off of your car." So technically it wasn't knocked off as it was hanging by the wires. In trying to be a good mother and not explode I point to Jenee's room. In the garage I found not only my dangling mirror but my scuffed door and a severely bent garage door track.

I called Mary, mother of 4, as she has dealt with teen drivers. Then I called Dawn, mother of 6, who happens to work at the dentist's office. Dawn was most helpful. Knowing me most of my life and knowing kids and cars, she put it in perspective. I love her for that and Jenee should too. I did ask her if she could have the dentist shoot Alan up with some happy drugs. Guess her laugh was a no. This is where the story gets fun. She tells the dentist. He goes into the room and Alan thinks Dr. is going to tell him he has a cavity. No. Dr. B breaks the news to Alan and share his stories about kids and cars. By the way, Dr. B wins with one of his kids backing into a cop car.

Alan took a bunch of stuff into the basement as the door could only go 3/4 of the way down. Today he got a new track. This is the great part. It only cost (Jenee) $20. Labor would be $70, however our neighbor used to work with sheet metal and had the tools to replace the track. VERY cool. My van may have a good mirror by Friday if we are lucky.

Are you wondering what kind of punishment is involved? This is good. First, I get to use her car until my van is fixed. Logical, I cannot go driving around with the wind whipping my mirror. I cannot even to this nifty trick. Next she will have to make payments. This is the best part. Alan said "We are not just going to pull it out of her account?" Brilliant. We are taking the money out of her account and then she has to pay it back. When we told J she said "So I am paying for it and then I have to pay myself back?" Yup. I think I said something like, "You crashed my van into my garage." Enough said. AND she has to write a thank you to the neighbor (she was planning on doing this once we told her he helped Alan) and make him cookies or something.

All in all it is working out. We have found out this happens a lot. Many people laugh when we tell them. We have heard many stories of people hitting cars while backing out. You may laugh too but know that Jenee is taking full responsibility for it and we are ready to chalk this up to another lesson learned.