A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, PART I

Something I omitted from my last post happened to be left out for “artistic purposes”, mainly because I think it would have detracted from the kiddo story and also because I wasn’t really ready to talk about it. You know when something is funny after the fact but not-so funny during the fact even though you tell yourself, “This is sure going to be funny when this is all over!”? Well, it was one of those moments.

What I am trying to say is this: While the kiddos were over I managed to back into the neighbor’s truck AND tear up a portion of our garage while backing out.

Fun times.

You see, one of our neighbors had parked a truck across the street, almost directly in front of our driveway, and I made a point to note it as I backed out numerous times that day. On our way to the pool on Thursday afternoon, I realized once we arrived at the pool that I had left the electronic pool pass at the house. So we moseyed our way back to the house, I ran in and got the pass, backed out of the driveway and then right smack-dab into the front left bumper of the truck. Frick!

I got out to survey the damage, and I couldn’t even tell where I had hit it, nor could I see any spot on my car. But I still had to do the ethical thing and tell the neighbors and so I went up to their house, knocked, and….no answer. I decided to resume our trip to the pool and figured I would tell the neighbors later on that evening.

As the evening rolled closer, and I had noticed that the one of the neighbors was home, a battle between id and super-ego ensued. Well, if they didn’t see it and there is no noticeable damage then I shouldn’t have to tell them, right? And just as quickly, my brain refuted with a mixture of thoughts about how not telling them would be unethical and undermine my credibility as a future physician and how I would always be paranoid that they really knew. Remember that quote that says that character is who we are when no one is watching? Your character is on the line, ho bag! (Yes, my internal monologue calls me names) You HAVE to tell them!

And so I chose to tell the neighbors because it was the ethical and character-saving thing to do.

I made the walk across the street up to their front door, knocked, and told the guy neighbor what had happened. He informed me that it was his father-in-law’s truck and so I gave him my phone number and told him to have him call me when the father-in-law had decided what he wanted to do.

After getting that weight off my chest, I was ready to go to the drive-in with the kiddos. However, I was not ready to back Jerm’s Xterra out of the driveway just yet. After all, the truck was still there and how embarrassing would it be to hit the truck again in front of the neighbors?!?!? And so I asked Jerm to do it.

And what did Jerm say to me when I asked him to do it? “Crystalle, you are a grown woman and can back the car out of the driveway.” Or something along those lines. Well, I sure showed him that I could back out of the driveway. I could back out of the driveway AND take out some of the woodwork in the process! And to make matters worse, the neighbors were out in their yard starting to mow and saw the whole thing. Double frick!

I’m not quite sure at this point if hitting their truck again would have been as embarrassing.