I scratched up a few cars in my early days as a new a driver, but I have been blemish-free for more than ten years, from 2000 to 2011. I blame the broken streak on Bad Donut Karma.
I have only ever crashed into another car once, and that time was kind of a weird circumstance back in 1996, when I was trying to merge onto the highway and suddenly, when the car ahead of me pulled into traffic, I saw there was a car pulled off the road at the end of the merge lane, right in my way. I almost got stopped in time, but I still crashed into that car going about 15 km/h. I was so mad at myself. So was the lady that came jumping out of the back of the car, screaming at me. Other than that, I have mostly had minor encounters with immovable objects in tight parking spots, the most recent being in the year 2000, rubbing my roommate's truck against the staircase behind our rental house south of campus.
Eleven incident-free years passed, until the Saturday afternoon when I took the kids to Superstore to get some Sour Patch Kids candy for R's birthday. Scott was super excited to help carry the purchase, but he was kind of sad that he wasn't going to come away with anything tasty to eat. I told him we could go to the bakery section and get a donut.
We picked out a container of donut holes, which would be perfect for all three of us to share. Once we got in the car, Scott dug into the donut holes, and Katie started whimpering her desire to get one too. I told Scott to give her one, but he didn't. He put another one in his mouth and Katie's whimpers turned to tears. I told him that he would have to share with her or I was going to throw them away. Still, he didn't give her one. So I made good on my threat and got drastic.
As we were driving out of the parking lot, I reached back and grabbed the container, opened the door and dumped them all on the road. I don't know if I've ever heard Scott cry so hard in my life. It just broke my heart to hear how sad he was. And, of course, Katie was crying too. I explained to Scott that he had to listen, and he had to share, and that he lost his treat because he did neither one. The air was coming in gasps between his sobs, and I worried that I'd been a bit heavy-handed. I asked him, "If we go get more donuts, will you share them with Katie?" He agreed, and we turned around. I hoped that the painful experience had at least taught him a memorable lesson, rather than just being a painful memory.
We parked again and headed back into the store for another package of donuts. When I pulled out of the parking spot I felt the car smack into something with a solid thud. I hate that sick feeling you get in your stomach at that moment of realization.
I had parked on the end row, where there were no cars behind me, so I hadn't been terribly careful about watching out the rear window, and I had crashed the back corner of the car into the cement base of a light pole. I hopped out of the car, took a quick frustrated look at the damage (scratched bumper, scratched panel, cracked light), then jumped back in and drove away.
Driving back, Scott did his best to share donut holes evenly with Katie, but we quickly realized that she did not eat them fast enough to keep up with him. He still got to have more than half, and she got all she wanted. Out loud, I reiterated the important lesson about sharing, but in my mind I was weighing my own actions.
Painful lessons for both of us that day, I think.
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