The Dented Ego
The Dented Ego
I always thought of myself as a pretty good driver, so when my Dad sat me down one evening to discuss my driving , I was a tad bit irritated.
"Sarah, you are driving and backing around corners way too fast and not looking in your mirrors enough," he warned. "If you don’t slow down you’re going to end up in an accident or with a ticket. I guarantee you."
I disagreed with him and brushed off his warnings. Me, driving too fast and backing around corners? No, definitely not, I thought to myself. If I’m such an awful driver, why is it that I’m the only one of my friends who has yet to get a ticket or have an accident? I didn’t give much thought to his fatherly warnings and soon forgot about them.
It wasn’t until a couple weeks later that it happened. I woke up late for work and was in a rush to get out of the house. I hopped into my mother’s van and began backing out of the driveway. My mom, who was talking on the portable phone to my Dad came outside to wave good bye to me. As I was backing up, at the last minute, I decided to use our new turn around that my Dad had made with gravel in our front yard. With a quick burst of speed, I backed up swinging into the turn around.
Unfortunately, I didn’t look before I backed up, and suddenly I heard a loud crunch. It was the dreaded sound that my Dad had warned me about. I knew what I had hit even before I turned around. It was the tree that my Dad had been planning to cut down. I had run smack dab into it! I was afraid to get out of the van and look at the damage. I didn’t have to look at my mother to know her expression on her face. I began imagining the conversation she was having with my Dad right at that moment.
I felt sick to my stomach. I gulped and wiped the sweat off my brow. I slowly got out of the van and inspected the damage. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought. The back left side bumper of the van was smashed in a little bit and part of the body was dented. Besides that and a couple of scrapes, it looked fine. I breathed a sigh of relief. My only worry now was my Dad’s reaction when he saw it.
That evening as I returned home from work, I expected the worst. To my surprise, my Dad took it amazingly well. I believe his reaction was the result of my Mom’s soothing touch and knowing that I had learned a valuable lesson - $1,500 worth.
