As I have previously posted, I am a car guy. My obsession for the next great car has allowed me to fabricate (use) any excuse for my next purchase to occur more frequently than 90% of the country. For instance I rationalize, "My car needs tires......better to put that money on a new car, it comes with new tires!" Or, "The car I'm driving gets crappy fuel mileage.... This new car will save me a bundle on fuel!"
LA never really seemed to mind my obsession. She was happy that I was happy, but she made no secret of preferring not to drive my car. When something would happened to my car while LA was driving it, I mentioned it a few too many times.... subtly attributing the event to LA herself............
Like the time LA backed my Chrysler convertible down the serpentine driveway of one of our friends. Half way down the hill, the car was in a ditch and the very next day, the driver side door fell off the car.
THE DOOR FELL OFF! Or when she drove the same car into the rear of another car which slowed suddenly to go over a railroad crossing. With that my brakes were to blame, and from then on LA told me she really doesn't like driving my cars. Do you see what I mean? I did it again!
On Christmas Eve 2009 I hopped in my car accompanied by our friend Trixie to head out to Planet Fitness for an early morning workout. Trix had to get a water bottle out on her Ford Escape SUV. I waited for her to get into my car before heading out of the garage and backed directly into the right rear wheel well of her SUV. I had forgotten that a 4600 pound SUV was there. The noise from the collision startled me. I said aloud, "What the **** was that?" It sounded like someone playing kick the can with a garbage can.
The Escape escaped a great deal of damage. Trixie didn't want me to have it fixed. (Thanks for that) Actually, my VW didn't seem too wounded. The tail light assembly was broken, and there was a watch band sized dent/scuff on the left rear quarter panel. We went to Planet Fitness in spite of the accident.
When we returned, and LA came to the kitchen for breakfast, I told her what happened. She was quick to point out, "I'm glad it wasn't me behind the wheel, I'd never hear the end of it, from him." OK, I had that coming. Trix chimed in saying , "I sorry I parked my truck there." She even posted that remark on Facebook. Twice! OK, I had that coming too. When ever I re-told the story, I heard from Lea Ann. OK, I get it.
The low estimate on repairing the damage to my VW was $770.00. The other estimate topped $1,100.00.
I made arrangements, and the car was fixed late last week, when LA and I traveled to the Jersey Shore to visit with her Dad, who was in from Florida to attend a 50th wedding anniversary party.
We passed the repair shop on the way home from the shore, and I could see my white VW outside, shining like the sun. I was happy that they washed it, and it looked good from a distance. We went home, and I returned to the shop with checkbook in hand. I walked there, the garage is only 500 yards from our house. Approaching my car from the front, I noticed that something looked out of place on the drivers side of the car. I walked to my right a bit, and continued straight down the long driveway. The metal panels covering the two doors of the drivers side of the car were missing. As I got closer, I could see the window mechanisms in the doors. There was only one inspection sticker on the windshield. This indicates that this was a diesel powered Jetta. (Mine is a diesel) The car had a moon roof. (Mine has a moon roof).
What did they do to my car? I checked where the damage was, and it looked like new, I thought, "This is my luck! How do I get to work? How long will it take to get the parts in? What did they do to my car?
As I was entering the office, I turned for one last look. The car was purchased at Kelly VW. Mine was from Kelly, The license number was KGX-1086. Not my car. It was an identical twin 2009 VW Jetta diesel.
Entering the office I saw the owner and remarked, "You're killing me!", he replied, Yeah, that's something, isn't it. A little shop like this, and you'd be surprised to hear that it happens quite often. There are some weeks that we might get all Mazda's, or a bunch of Chevy's. This week we've had three Jetta's, all diesels, and two of them were white.
So the story here is that I was dished a dose of my own medicine. We all should have that once in a while. It re-taught me things like understanding, tolerance, love, forgiveness and looking in your side view mirror before backing out of the garage.
