New Car Blues

We got our 2003 Toyota Matrix in 2002, right after I had Ethan. This was our first new car, so it was pretty exciting. Unfortunately, since I've been a stay-at-home mom, I'm driving all the time, which gives me plenty of chances to wreck this car, which I have come close to doing a couple of times.



The first time I damaged the car, I blamed it on the screaming kids. I got gas, and as I was pulling away from the pump, I looked up and saw a car right in front of me. I turned sharply to the left to avoid the car, and hit the poll next to the gas pump. The loud, scraping sound made me pretty nervous. Sure enough, when I got out of the car to check the damage, the driver's side had a huge scrape and was bent in. Who knew a poll could do so much damage?



That little accident cost us thousands of dollars, and lowered our driver safety rating with our car insurance considerably. You would think after such an incident, I would never damage our car again. But I was wrong. Again, I blame the kids.



This morning, Ethan doesn’t want to go to kindergarten and runs away from me as I nag him to get dressed. I finally get both in the car and start back out—White Stripes is blaring. I turn the wheel too soon and hit the lawn mower, which hooks onto the front bumper. I stupidly keep backing the car out and hear a loud crunch. I get out of the car and see that the lawn mower pulled half the front bumper off and it’s almost on the ground. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. How could I have done this again? I call Terry and he is PISSED. He’s like—I have a meeting at 10 am—I’ll see what I can do after that. So I think—forget him, I’ve done so much damage to this car in the past, I know what to do. I call the body shop and make an appointment to get an estimate. Then call back Terry and he tells me to tie the bumper on with a rope, which I do. Then I drive over there, expecting to have to pay lots and lots of money we don’t have to fix this car, because we definitely don't want to file an insurance claim. But THANK GOD, the manager says if I pay the mechanic $50 cash, they’ll reattach the bumper for me, and it will only take 45 minutes. I was profoundly grateful. I thanked the mechanic several times. I was so prepared to write a huge check to fix this car; $50 feels like manna from heaven.



Why did I wreck the car for the second time? I kick myself, thinking I should have learned my lesson; then I blame my bad driving on my onry boys. Accusations aside, I can't help thinking, too, that this little run in with the lawn mower proved to me that people can be good and kind when you least expect it. Thank God for that.