A horrible screeching sound against the driver's side door.
What could I have hit?
I quickly stop the car in the narrow downtown parking lot. I have to push against the driver's side door to open it. Once open, I see the pole. Short. Bright yellow. Designed to keep people like me, I guess, from turning the narrow corner too tightly.
And boy, did it ever work. The evidence is clear on my car door.
This happened in May. Three months ago. I was racing downtown to attend a meeting for my boss. The meeting was at 9:30, a hard time to find a spot to park in downtown Denver, so I was trying to pull into a small lot about four blocks of my meeting. There was a short post, right when I turned the corner into the lot, not quite tall enough to be visible over the car window, and somehow I didn't see it. And I scraped against it, and dented up the whole drivers door.
And so all summer, people have been asking me what I did to my car. And it's kind of embarrassing to have to keep telling them how stupid I am.
Around July 1st, I went and got an estimate. $2500. $2500 for a moment's stupidity. I made an appointment on the first available week, which was August 14th.
And now I'm trying to decide whether I should keep the appointment.
This has been an expensive summer. $2000 to get a big tree trimmed back. Another $2000 into one son's car. $476 into the other son's car. I really don't have $2500 more.
The car still works fine. After the first day, when the door was a little hard to open, I don't notice any difference in the way the car drives. I could probably live without the repairs.
At the same time, it's so ugly. And people keep asking me what I did to the car. And it's embarrassing to have to tell them what really happened. And every time I look at the car, I remember how stupid I was.
But even so, $2500 is a lot of money.
A whole lot of money for one moment of stupidity.
3 comments:
Carol, I can see your dilemma. You don't want to have to regale every friend, acquaintance, and stranger with your story. Though, you did a great job describing it! I'm sure it could get better every time you tell it. If you want to keep the dent maybe you could make a goal to tell the account more elaborately and/or ridiculously with each retelling. That could be fun.
Anyway, all the best as you decide what to do. It certainly was an expensive summer.
Blessings,
Denise
Oh, Carol, I can identify with your dilemma. Short poles do not belong in parking lots. And your summer has been an expensive one. Not fun! If you decide to go with no repairs, I suggest crafting an incredible, unbelievable story to explain the dent.
One of my family members was cleaning the car before going out of town on vacation and backed out of the garage, forgetting that the car door was open ... it tore the door off the car! Alas - the dents happen to us all at some point. You captured this so well. Here's hoping for a windfall for you to get it fixed.
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