Monday Memories: Did I ever tell you about My First Wreck
There was one stipulation for getting a car when I turned 16:
NEVER, EVER, LET ANYONE DRIVE IT
So, it was the 4th of July, and my BFF and I were hanging out with some boys that only came into town for about 2 weeks every summer. I had gotten my license in April, BFF got her license the last November, so she'd been driving quite a while.
Like most 16 year old girls, I was all about the boys. I mean, I wanted to be liked, thought of as "pretty", and have the attention of at least one of the boys in any given party.
So, when an artificial argument ensued about who the better driver is: me or BFF (of course, she was since she'd been driving longer), I just let her drive, because, hey! I can sit in the back w/ the blonde-haired guy.
Bad. Idea.
We'd been driving, oh, I dunno, a 1/2 mile, when we turned left at the light onto "the strip". You know the street, every town has one, the two-mile stretch specifically earmarked by the high schoolers for "cruising."
So, as we turned left, the traffic merging from the right were as oblivious to us, as BFF was to them. I yelled, LOOKOUT!! to no avail. The front passenger corner of my car looked like it had been through the grinder. I saw the steel bumper of the truck we had run up under had a little red paint on it, as the driver snickered and drove away. Hey! It was YOUR FAULT butthead! WE had the right-of-way! YOU were supposed to YIELD! Tears filled my eyes...I had to call my dad.
Dear God, Please let Mom answer the phone...
Me: "Hello? Dad? Um, hi. It's me. I've had a wreck."
Dad: "Were YOU driving?"
Me: (DamnDad! Does THAT have to be your first question?!) "Yes"
A week later, I was sick. Sick with guilt. Sick to the point of throwing up. I couldn't eat. My stomach was in a knot. I HAD to tell my parents the truth, but I didn't want them to take my car away, or my BFF for that matter!
Then, it happened. Me and BBF were discussing it over the phone, when we heard it: someone had picked up, somone was listening. BFF's mother had overheard everything. OMG!! We're dead!
Well, not dead, but might as well have been. Grounded for the rest of the summer. No car. No boys. No cruisin. But? It was OK, because I would've had to have told. The guilt was killing me. I had never tried to cover up something so major, and I sucked at it. Bigtime.
You might be wondering if I ever let anyone drive my car after that? Yes. Yes, I did. *shameful shrug*
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6 comments:
That was quite a memory! I've never liked other people driving my car unless of course it can't be helped...And with insurance the way it is today...Well, better to just not , you know?
Here from Michele this morning!
I didn't get my license until seven days before I went to college 1200 miles away from home. I had no car there until the spring of my senior year so really avoided all that problem. My daughter had a car her last two years in high school but was under the same rule as you were. She had her run ins with mailboxes but no other cars and did ok. I also added the rule that she couldn't have any passengers in the car until she had had her license for a full year and then we would reevaluate her driving and decide. She couldn't ride in a vehicle with someone who had not had their license for a year as well.
Here from Michele.
My first wreck was dumb!
here from technorati
My MM is up too http://lillyput.blogspot.com
That's too funny. We always get busted as kids...and even when we "get away with it" we admit it sooner or later. Kids!
My memory is up!
Good story. But I would think after all the guilt and an accident, you would have changed your behavior.
Here's my MM http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2006/02/monday-memories-monday-memories-did-i.html
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
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