Moving Targets

Other than the aforementioned purchase of the bug, and the return of the van without incident, this has not been our best car year ever.

The first incident, which we should have seen coming, happened this spring. Dad and Monica like to avoid leaving a car at the airport when the travel, and have asked us in the past to use one of their vehicles to drive them to the airport...the "plus" of this is that we get to drive one of their (generally more luxurious) vehicles for the week while they are gone. First year: Navigator develops weird grinding noise in wheel well, and must be checked for repair. Second year: Lexus completely dies in random parking lot, and must be taken in to repair. This year: Casey is driving the Navigator with Ava when someone darts out into a gap in stopped traffic, hitting him as he moves into the left turn lane. Thankfully, not so much as a scratch on Casey or Ava. Unfortunately, can't say the same about the Navigator.

In what Casey feels is a gigantic Novi plot against him, he gets the ticket. Thankfully, we're able to get it thrown out in court, since it's kind of ridiculous to get a ticket when you are the one with the right of way. However, I can tell you that it's only marginally easier to call your dad and tell him you (or your husband) crashed the car at 37 than it is at 17. That's one of those youthful experiences that I was hoping was far behind me.

Flash forward to this weekend - Casey instructs me to take his Nissan on my errand to the grocery. As the bug's behind our recycling and other items to go out that night, I comply. After buying the groceries, I'm check behind me, and start backing out of my spot very slowly, as I know that this lot has a lot of problems, including the blind turn I'm looking at, when CRUNCH, I get hit on the other side. On the plus side, the lady who hit me was very apologetic, and probably did have a hard time seeing me when backing up her large SUV. So, for the second time in three months, I have to call someone to tell them of an accident. I think that has to be my 20 year quota.

Thankfully, damage seems to be pretty minimal, and I think we'll be able to handle it without insurance. Still, I'd much rather be spending the same money on something like a new TiVo, or even kid's college fund.