Here We Go Again.... Is There An Echo In Here?

You all know the story.

I've referred to it more than once.

If you arrived late and missed the previews, you can go read them at Step Away From The Car, Step Away From The Car Again, Here We Go Again, and Please, Please, Step Away from the Car.
I doubt anyone needs to go back, but I needed practice on linking anyway.

So Here We Go Again.
It's time.
He has to start driving again one day.
He has been punished.
He has not driven for 4 months.
He's been to driving school.
He is taking money out of every paycheck to help out.
He did his community service hours for the accidents.
Both accidents were due to inexperience, weather conditions and probably not paying enough attention.
Neither accident was due to recklessness, drugs, alcohol, speeding or acting careless.
The police liked him.
The judge liked him.
I love him.
It's time.
I'm , well, understandably, nervous.
But we've worked together.
We've practiced.
We've have talked about just about every possible scenario.
We've talked about how it would affect me and SO MANY OTHERS if he was killed in an accident.
We've talked about how it would effect him, me, and SO MANY OTHERS if he accidentally killed someone else in an accident.
We've talk about injury from accidents.
We've talked about the fact that he will lose his license for 18 months-2 years if he even gets a ticket.
We've talked about INSURANCE.
We've talked about the fact that we CAN NOT buy another car.
We've talked...
and talked...
and talked.
He's a teenager, but I THINK he listened.
We've practiced...
and practiced...
and practiced.

The judge still trusts him to drive.
So do I.
I'll say a prayer every time he gets behind that wheel.

We have REALLY, REALLY been blessed that there were no injuries before.
He obviously has an angel on his shoulder.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I present to you, Car #3.
The 1989 Chrysler New Yorker Landau. Mary Kay Pink with Red Plush Interior. (I told him, No Fuzzy Dice Hanging From The Rear View Mirror!)

SOMEONE will see him at all times. "Surprisingly", it's the only one of its kind in the area.
He knows that EVERYONE will recognize him and that if he is goofing around while driving I WILL FIND OUT.

HE LOVES IT!!

OK, He would have loved ANY car at this point, but he actually LOVES this car. He says it is the coolest car he could have hoped for. Except for, of course, the famous El Camino.

Not too many teenage boys could get away with driving a pink car.
JM can.
Not only will he be able to get away with it..... but I wouldn't be surprised if a few more pop up in the area within the next year.

One last thing.
When you say your prayers tonight, please ask God to keep him safe.
Thank You!!

Please, Please Step Away From the Car!

Sometimes when I am reading a post and the writer refers or links to a past post I don't go back and read it. Now before you act all shocked and appalled, you have to admit that there are times when each and everyone of you do the same thing.

However, to get the full impact of this post, you really need to go back and read Step Away From The Car . and Step Away From the Car Again.

Go ahead and read them. We'll wait.

Well, you may remember that the car was replaced and JM was able to be free again! Yea! He was SO happy. I was no longer a chauffeur AND had someone to run quick errands for me. I was SO happy.

That was less than 3 weeks ago.
I've included a picture of the car the day he got it in case you missed that post.
I've also included the most recent picture of the car. He had it for 16 days.
It was raining, the car in front of him was turning, he hit the brakes, slid, pulled up emergency brake, kept sliding....and well, you see what happened. (The policeman did say that usually he would write up the ticket for reckless driving but it didn't appear that they were speeding or doing anything reckless. Mainly just inexperience, bad judgement and rainy weather).

The other car, a large SUV showed no damage except for a few paint flecks from JM's car.
JM's car will probably be considered totaled by the insurance company.

2 totaled cars in 2 months. (3 including that the other person's car was totaled last time also)

Our insurance before he was added--approx 1,000 to 1,200 a year.
Adding him-before accidents---approx $3,200 a year.
We haven't even seen the rise in the cost from the first accident yet. (sigh).

On the other hand, if the judge takes his license, maybe we can temporarily remove him from the policy...not to mention sleep a little better at night.

Last but definitely not least...MAJOR THANK YOU PRAYERS. AGAIN, NO INJURIES!!

Here We Go Again...

Perhaps you all remember the "minor Mishaps" my son had with my Nissan. If that was before you started reading, you can check them out at Step Away From The Car and
Step Away From The Car...Again.

Anyway...Here we go again....

Cost of a 2004 Chevy Cavalier with only 54,000 miles......... $2,000 (bought from a towing company after owner didn't pick up. After 90 days it becomes their property) (Blue Book Value $4500-$5000).

Minor repairs needed.........Approx $350.00

Registrations/License Plates/County Stickers etc....Approx $100.00

Cost of NOT having to Chauffeur my 17 year old everywhere.....PRICELESS!!!

I am a Chauffeur, Again

You know, as a parent we get used to being a chauffeur. (now why do you automatically assume that I used my dictionary to spell chauffeur? I mean geez, I JUST started this post and already you think I can't spell? I guess you think I wrote 10 versions of the word trying to get it right. ....ok, you're right. You'd be amazed how many ways a person could try to spell chauffeur and STILL not get it right!) Say the word...Show-fer. Now obviously that's not correct but whoever decided to choose chauffeur as the spelling was just plain cruel (and yes, Sue J, I 'm sure there is a logical reason). The way it is spelled looks like you would pronounce it Chaw-fee-your.

Losing Focus....Monkey's are funny.

You know, as a parent we get used to being a chauffeur. It comes with the territory. Then, when your child reaches that magical age and gets their driver's permit, all of the sudden there is a huge decrease of time you spend in the car. As I have said, it is scary watching them drive away but over time, without even realizing it, you begin to enjoy it. It's also convenient if you need milk or something while you're in the middle of fixing dinner and they can run out and get it for you. If they want to go to a friends house or have a friend over....sure....no problem, off they go. Also you notice that your gas tank isn't running on empty so often.

THEN EVERYTHING CHANGES. I believe I called them the driving "mishaps". Such as my posts STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR and STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR...AGAIN.

(There it was, my perfect chance to try to make it so you could easily link from this post to the one I'm referring to. Chatty Kelly came over, she showed me how to do it, we practiced, I took notes, I FOUND my notes.....IT'S NOT WORKING!!! I can't figure it out. Well, you all just read those other posts anyway.....and Chatty Kelly "I guess I broke my fishing pole....you need to teach me how to fish AGAIN!"---please)

monkey's are funny, monkey's are funny

Well, I got spoiled. I am a chauffeur again. I especially loved this one, "Mom, can you pick me up from Travis's house?" ("Sure" I say and drive to Travis's). "Hi mom, can you take me home, take me to work and then take HJ to his house?" (HJ, by the way, is climbing in the car as he is speaking). AND THEN THE KICKER "oh, and mom, after I get off of work (10:00PM & I have to pick him up) since you'll be out anyway, can we go back to HJ's house and pick him up so he can spend the night at our house?" "And oh yeah, I love you mom." (lucky save on his part).

I compromised. HJ came with us, we took JM to work at 4:00. HJ went to the grocery store and post office with me (he was probably miserable...hee hee), then HJ came home with us (Alberquando and I) and spent the evening at our house. I told him to make himself at home (he's here pretty often anyway). He could watch tv, get on the computer, play video games, play the guitar or hang out it JM's room. He was fine. He relaxed. But he was SO glad when it was time for JM to be home.

One of the definitions of the word "Chauffeur" is "A person employed to drive a car or limousine that transports PAYING passengers". It's time to get tough.

"Who going to pay for the gas?"

Step Away From the Car....Again

Hello. I'm back. As you can tell from my last post, I learned how to insert pictures, use different colors for text, and I also learned to link (haven't done that on my blog yet). Chatty Kelly came over last week and taught me a few things. I took notes while she was here....I can almost read them. Hope I remember how to do it.

The color changing is easy! I can do that!!

Unfortunately, as you can tell, I can't figure out how to arrange the pictures where I want them to be. Chatty Kelly isn't home now but I'll have to call her later.

Anyway, even more unfortunately, as you may have guessed from the pictures, I need to continue from a previous blog that I was hoping I had completed for a while.

Step Away From The Car....and find a new means of transportation. Now where were we? Ok we were at #8.

#8. JM is at home asleep (that is understandable..it's only 1:00pm) I go outside. hhmmm. Didn't his car used to have 2 rear lights? When He wakes up I ask about it. JM? "Oh yeah, I was backing out from Sam's house and there is a shelf that sticks out from his shed. I backed into it." Well, he can't drive it like that. He'll get pulled over and get a ticket. He says the man at the auto parts store said he can temporarily put red tape over it and drive it legally. It won't pass inspection but he won't get a ticket. I suppose that if Waffle House can hire paramedics, then Advanced Auto can hire law enforcement officials. He assures me he'll get it taken care of.

#9. Phone rings....same day. (this was all last Friday). "Mom, do we have insurance?" I sigh and say "JM, auto insurance won't cover a tail light." P-A-U-S-E . "JM, were you in an accident?" JM "Mom, everybody is ok. The police needs to know what insurance we have." (sigh) .

Well, before I go any further, please say a thank you prayer for me because this car does not look like everyone walked away without injury. But they did, and for that I am VERY grateful. JM has a guardian angel on his shoulder and he doesn't even realize it.

So, back to the story. He tells me the story. He stopped at the stop sign. Looked. Saw no one. And proceeded thru the intersection. He was t-boned by another car (he hadn't seen her). It appears that she may have been trying to stop (She probably saw them ) but her speed limit was either 45 or 55 mph (which means she was probably going between 60-75 mph) and I don't think she had time to slow down very much. She slammed into the side of his car. There were 5 teenagers in his car. She hit the passenger side and I still get woozy when I think about what could have happened. As a firefighter, I see this kind of thing quite often and usually when the vehicle looks like this, someone is going to the emergency room. They WERE wearing their seatbelts! If they had not have been wearing them, then at LEAST one of them would probably have been ejected from the car. Everyone was fine......as for the 2 vehicles....that's another story.

Of course I immediately went to the scene after he called me. He had told me I didn't need to, that he could find a ride.......oh yeah.....right....I'll just stay home and continue cooking dinner. I was there in 15 minutes.

The police officer was terrific. He could have been otherwise. After all, an old car full of 5 teenagers VRS a nice (well, it used to be nice) 2008 Jeep Something SUV driven by a woman who was perhaps in her 60's. The officer said he felt sorry for JM. He believed JM stopped and looked. He just didn't see her coming. JM said she was flying over the speed limit. Maybe she was...maybe she wasn't. You really can't prove that unless Gil Grissom was there with his CSI crew. They would have come but were busy with a case in Las Vegas. Something to do with a serial killer, an adopted kid and a district attorney. ANYWAY... The kids were all shaken up. The woman continued to scream about her "beautiful car"..... I didn't think it looked that beautiful....the whole front end was crashed in and the airbags were deployed. Does that sound beautiful to you?

Of course the bottom line is.....JM got a ticket for Failure to Yield to The Right Away Of Approaching Traffic From A Stop Sign. And yes, I know that it was his fault. But I am still so sorry for him. He's had a tough first year of driving. Some of his mishaps could have been avoided and some of them couldn't have been. But even when they were his fault he felt SO MUCH remorse (you know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you have an accident, or a flat tire, or even just do something without using good judgement.) He's had his share of mishaps but I'm just SO grateful for that angel on his shoulder that kept protecting him and any others involved.

Never-the-Less, his car only had Liability insurance (speaking of insurance, it almost doubled when we added him to the policy, I can only guess how much it will be now). Therefore, our insurance will cover the other car and if there had been injuries it would have covered them.......but our beloved 1991 Nissan Sentra with 163,113.4 miles...may she rest in peace.......

The picture taken from the driver's side is what she looked like normally. The others are from the accident. And the one from the back is where he had put the red tape over the light earlier that day. (which, by the way, had nothing to do with the accident).

P.S. I drove it for almost 16 years.
He drove it for 13 months.
(sigh)

Step Away From The Car....

My son, JM (he used to be Guacamole but that just didn't flow as well as Alberquando) has been driving for almost one year. As I have said before, there is nothing quite as scary as standing on the porch and waving as your "baby" gets behind the wheel and drives away...without me. As of that second I lost the "Total Control" that I had felt over him for 16 years (he's 17 now). There he goes. It takes every bit of strength for me not to run down the road beside him as he's driving, yelling out things like, "Don't forget to buckle up always", "Don't speed", "Please please please be careful"..etc etc etc. Of course I said all those things 2,357 times before he walked out the door but maybe if I say them just once more they will be sure to be firmly implanted in his head.
But no, I stand there and wave good-bye with a fake smile plastered on my face.

That was all last year.
Flash forward to present day.
I still want to run along beside him, I still give all the warnings every time he goes anywhere (thank goodness he is so patient with me as I know I drive him crazy). But it has gotten a little bit easier. Of course there have been mishaps, but no major injuries. (Dear God, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. Please keep watching him. Please keep watching him. Please keep watching him......)

Anyway, as for the mishaps,

#1 "Mom, I'm at Sam's house. The car won't start. We looked under the hood and there is oil everywhere!"
OK, I take the blame entirely for this. I "taught" him how to check his oil in the car and how to add oil as needed. It's an old car so he needs to check it regularly. Note to Everyone...."NEVER, EVER, EVER, FORGET TO REPLACE THE OIL CAP AFTER ADDING OIL!!" (especially when you are "teaching" someone else how to do it). After a day of driving without the cap on, the engine was soaked with oil and the alternator needed to be replaced. As I said, I take full credit for this one.

#2. "MOM, They were SO right in driver's Ed class. They said if the roads are wet and you start to hydroplane, that you lose all control of the car. I thought I could surely handle it but I actually had NO control as the car glided off the road. Don't worry, there was a party going on across the street where I went off the road. it took about 6 or 7 guys but we were finally able to get the car out of the ditch. I'll wash all the mud off tomorrow"

When he got home, I asked him if it scared him. He looked me straight in the eye and said "YES" He said he was shaking for about an hour. good.

#3 "Mom, can you please come and pick me up. I forgot to turn off my headlights and the battery is dead". ok, that happens to everyone at least once.

#4. "Mom, um, can you come and pick me up? I'M OKAY. I was, well, you see, I went to spit out the window (gross) and some of it got on the window frame. I only looked away for 2 seconds to wipe it off with my arm. I started to drift off the road. You know how they said in Driver's Ed to be careful about over correcting? Well, they were right. After I drifted off the road my reflex was to turn hard to get back on the road. Well the edge of the road blew out both of my passenger side tires. I only have one spare. Oh, and thank goodness no one was coming down the road the other way or I would probably be dead".

Yes, he was shaken up...but no where near as badly as I was.

#5 I received a letter from the local county police dept..."Dear Mrs MyADHDMe (actually, I think they put my real name) This letter is to inform you that your son was pulled over on so-and-so date for exceeding the speed limit. Although we did not issue him a ticket, we would just like you to be aware of this. Please remind him of the importance of driving safely and obeying all traffic laws.etc etc etc."

I received this letter about 2 weeks after the fact. He must have completely "Forgotten" about being pulled over since he had never mentioned it to me. But, you would have loved the "deer in the headlights" look he got when I asked him about it. Speaking of deer....

#6. "Hi Mom. That stupid deer ran right out in front of me. It's a good thing I had my window down because he knocked the driver's side mirror right thru the window area and if it had been closed it would have shattered the window all over me. The mirror cut my hand a little bit. There's a lot of blood but the man that works at Waffle house said I don't need stitches." (since when does Waffle House employ paramedics?)

"Oh, and Mom, when the deer hit the car, his body flung around and hit the back window and busted it out. Lucky for Justin (his friend), he was sitting on the other side. Otherwise he would probably have been hurt bad!" (as opposed to hurt good?) "Oh gross, mom, there's deer poop on the car" (sigh)

#7 (last night) "Mom, usually when my gas tank is on empty I still have a few miles to go. I don't know why it didn't happen this time. Could you please bring me some gas?"

I think they should change the driving age to 18...or 21....25?

Well, he's still driving and understandably I still worry. However, every accident was minor and he did learn something in each one. A lot of those things, you need to experience yourself before you take them seriously. We were blessed that there were no serious injuries. As for the car, she's still running. She's a 1991 Nissan Sentra with 160,000 miles. It was mine for 16 years and he's had it for one. I'm pretty sure we got our money's worth.