Archive for October 15th, 2008
The joys of being a mom…
…of a teenage driver.
Yesterday, just as I was about to eat my lunch (hadn’t eaten anything yet, was too busy to eat breakfast), my phone rang. I saw that it was Dobby, who had just left for school, and thought maybe she had forgotten something. I steeled myself for the inevitable argument – I’m pretty firm that if she forgets something she’s on her own now that she’s in college – and picked up the phone. Here is the beginning of the conversation:
Me: “Hello?”
Dobby: “Mom? MOM! I JUST REAR-ENDED SOMEONE! YOU HAVE TO COME NOW!!”
Me: “Are you okay?”
Dobby: “YES!!”
Me: (well, I knew her LUNGS were okay at that point) “Okay, well, first you need to calm down…”
…and that’s when the screaming started. *sigh* Apparently, telling her to calm down ‘made everything worse’ and she started yelling even more. Thank GSD the officer on the scene calmed her down and the people in front of her were calm about it or who knows what would have happened to her.
So, of course, I (unshowered and unfed) jumped in the Jeep to go rescue her. When I got there, everyone else was gone and the car appeared driveable so she followed me home. Thankfully, it was an uneventful trip and she kept at least three car lengths between us the entire time. ;o)
When we got back, the first thing she said to me was, “Mom…are you mad?” I did what any quick-thinking mom would do and answered, “no…just disappointed.” Which is the truth. I’m not sure how much she is truly at fault since the person at the front of the line was only 18 and odds are she slammed on the brakes to make a last minute turn. I’m also trying to remind myself that she’s had her license for two years and it could have been worse. She could have gotten into an accident the day she got her license. ;o) Dobby then got to see me GET mad when I tried to reach the insurance company and the agent and couldn’t get a person on the line (which, btw, is why I’m SWITCHING) and then had to jump through all the lovely hoops they put in front of you when your daughter gets in a car accident while driving a car that is still in your name. Fun times.
Want to see the damage?
It’s better than it was. Roger put on his ‘hillbilly body shop’ hat last night and bent it back mostly to where it was pre-impact (you should have seen him jumping up and down on the bumper, it was pretty funny…sorry I forgot the camera). Dobby will be calling the junkyard today to see if she can get a new headlight. I’m sure a new car is in the cards for her eventually but what’s the point getting her a new car now right before it starts snowing? She might as well beat the hell out of this one for a few more months…
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