Requiem for a Car

Two weeks ago I was involed in a high-speed two-car head-on collision with a gentleman who had decided to self-check himself out of the hospital. He went to sleep at the wheel, crossed the median, and did in my 1993 Geo Prism (he also did in a telephone pole and killed the electricity for 2 towns for 4 hours). So you don't worry, I only got a wicked seat-belt shaped bruise and some minor cuts. When I showed my daughter my bruise she made the "Oh, Dad, that looks horrible" noises. As I was leaving the family room she was on the phone with her boyfriend and was saying, "...you should see my Dad's bruises, they are so cool". That's my girl.

I loved that car. I used and abused it and it always purred for me. It went out to New Mexico a couple of times and traveled the midwest extensively. (Ouside of Florida I think it had been to every state east of the Mississippi). I took that car on back-country dirt roads that spooked the heck out of my wife and daughters. She (my car) had seen the Badlands, ghost-towns, and too many volcanoes to count (NM is a volcanic state, though all are dormat right now). Well, I should count my blessings, I am fine and I had 13 years with a truly good car.

My Youngest

My youngest daughter has always been a doer. When she was about 2 years old she started to tie knots in EVERYTHING: strings, ropes, ribbons, electrical cords, etc. If it was tieable, she tied it.

One day there was far too little noise coming from her bedroom so we decided to investigate. What we found was her stuffed panda tied up with string, blindfolded with a blue sash, and mom's red lipstick smeared on the panda's "lips". Sometimes I am concerned for her current boyfriend ;>).

Then there was the time we went down to the basement and found a thin layer of our garden lime everywhere. We didn't even have to guess who might be responsible. So my wife decided to interview our 4 year old.

Mom: Did you make the mess in the basement?
Her: Yes.
Mom: WHY?
Her: I was frolicking.
Mom: Frolicking?

My daughter made motions like she was throwing the stuff straight up in the air. One of her knicknames now is frolick

This was around the time she felt her bathroom needed a fine layer of vaseline on all the surfaces. She claims today that she did it when she discovered that she could lay down a layer so thin that you couldn't see it, she is still particularly proud of the job she did on the toilet seat. She was so successful that it was very hard to clean up as we couldn't see it.

She is one reason that I am glad that I have children (her sister is the other).