It’s a terrifying moment in every parents life. You answer the phone and it’s the shaking voice of your child saying, “Mom, I just hit a car.”
Immediately your imagination runs to the worst possible thoughts of crushed metal and broken, bleeding bodies. You mind jumps to planning how to get to the hospital or the jail.
From the moment that we let them sit behind the wheel of the car for the first time, we know that one day it will happen. I know that I went through it, my husband went through it, my brother went through it. It is as inevitable as the sunset. It’s one of those life experiences that you can only learn from the hard way.
A few days ago, it was our turn.
It was icy and snowy. I had just said to my daughter as she left for work, “Be careful, it’s really slick out.”
Not more that five minutes later the phone was ringing. “Mom, I hit a car.”
She had turned into the parking lot near her work. She was only driving about two mph. A second car was coming in through the alley perpendicular to her. My daughter hit her brakes but she was on ice and she didn’t stop. The other car didn’t slow down either. They bumped.
Admittedly it was a very minor accident.
This is my daughter’s car.
This is the other person’s car.
Really can’t see any damage.
The driver of the car got out and was screaming at her through the window threatening to call the police on her. My poor daughter was completely terrified. You have to understand my daughter is a very sensitive girl. She can’t stand it when people yell at her. She began to cry and called me.
I walked her through finding her registration and insurance paper work and told her to take pictures. Especially since the other people were being so frantic about what appeared to be nothing. The police showed up and calmed the other driver down then reassured my daughter that it wasn’t as bad a they were making it out to be.
There were no tickets and despite the ranting of the other driver, we have not as yet heard anything from our insurance. But the lesson that my daughter learned that day will stay with her forever. Even though she was scared to call me because she thought I was going to hate her for getting into a wreck and take away her driving privileges, she acted very responsibly. She handled the whole thing by herself only asking for advice on what to do because as she said, “They never told us in driver’s ed what to do if you’re in an accident.” I am very proud of her for handling the situation as well as she did even under threats from the other driver.
I’m just glad that she’s okay and safe. We’ve both had our firsts. Her first car accident and my first terrifying phone call. God willing this will be the only ones we ever have to have.
adriana pridemore 