Perspective changes instantly, Merry Christmas

[Original Wing Nut]

We all are dealing with the economy and I am a pretty big Scrooge. Yesterday my wife and I were out shopping and had a pretty dramatic perspective change on what's important. The following is the email sent to family and friends.


It's Christmas Season and with that comes the girls choice Christmas dance. Lynds' has asked a kid by the name of Andrew and last night was their day activity, or I guess it really was the night before activity, Lynds' has the ACT test today. They were going to the Gallivan Center and ice skating for a while and then to Temple Square to see the pretty lights. My wife and I have met this kid and she was going with a group of six couples from the neighborhood so we thought all would be well. They met and were all caravanning down together in three cars so no one would get lost. My wife asked why not just give everyone a copy of the mapquest map, Lynds' just rolled her eyes and went on. I was concerned with the weather that was coming in and asked if she would be driving, she was and I asked that she be very careful and got the usual, I will Daddy. Well it now comes down to the fact that a picture is worth a thousand words. Her friend Tiffany the lead car stopped quick, Lynds' not quite as quick and just came to a stop as they touched bumpers, then Brook the last of the three didn't stop so well or really at all. I got the frantic call of Dad I wrecked my Jeep. All is well, no one was hurt and they got to stop traffic, isn't that what teenage girls want to do anyway to get looks? It is a great learning experience and we will see what insurance does. She is fully insured as well as the other girls. Tiffany's car just had a dent in the bumper from Brook hitting Lynds' into her. Lynds' jeep does not look good underneath which is where Brook went. The HP said it looked totaled to them. We all know Brook's is totaled. I just thought I would share our experience so the kids will learn that us parents do know everything. We definately know this, we love our kids and are very grateful for them being unharmed last night.

My daughter and her new Jeep, she bought it about 6 months ago. It is/was her baby. She has only put about 1500 miles on it. She leaves it in the garage except for week ends and takes an old work truck I have to school and work.


This is the scene as I pulled up last night.


This is the best shot I could get of the Jeep. It held up really well as far as the cab. Her friend went underneath, the drive train is toast and I am pretty sure the frame is tweaked. I don't know if I hope it's totaled or not? The value of it has dropped dramatically in the last six months and it is paid for, so who knows what value the adjuster is going to put on it. She bought it used, it's an 07 and only had 14,000 miles on it. Then again if they fix it, will it ever drive the same?


This is her friend Brook's car. Yeah this one is definately toast.


This is the group after having calmed down and realizing everyone is unhurt and going on with the rest of their lives.


To end with, I think I got my Christmas present last night.

Merry Christmas to you all, and have a safe holiday season!!!

PS, their will be pics of the happy outcome and couple as they leave for the dance later tonight.

[chpthril]

Wow, glad to hear everyone is ok, that's what matters.

[samw]

Wow Wing I hope everything turns out ok and all is well. Very lucky....
I have two girls still young but I am not looking forward to driving dating.... Yeah not looking forward to it.

[Timmy!]

Wow! Glad that no one got hurt and as always cars can be replaced, people cannot! Probably a pretty scary moment for all involved (including parents)!

[sparky216]

Man.......great to see they are unharmed and doing well! That had to be a scare for both of you guys!

[ragboy]

Glad to hear she is ok. I worry about my 17 yr old daughter in the same way all the time. My next daughter is in the process of getting her license now also, fun stuff.

[Carter13]

Glad your daughter is ok.
That picture of the last car looks like the passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt and kissed the windshield with his forhead.

[chpthril]

Glad your daughter is ok.
That picture of the last car looks like the passenger wasn't wearing a seatbelt and kissed the windshield with his forhead.

Probably the airbag, most pass side SRS's take out the windshield.

[dogbert]

Wow, I'm glad no one was hurt!

You're right, that will definitely snap you out of whatever funk you're in.

[da.bell]

Great to hear that everything is okay. It sucks getting into an accident but sucks even more when your friend crashes into you. I am sure there have been friendships lost because of it. Let's hope this turns out better.

[Carter13]

If you put three teenage drivers in cars following each other you can almost certainly expect about a one to two second following rule. I think this is what happened here. I used to drive like that when I was a youngin and now I want at least a three to five second gap since I have turned into an old fart.

[Domsz06]

glad to see everyone is ok!!

[Original Wing Nut]

Here they are on their way out tonight.




This is my second daughter (she feels like that most of the time) jumping into the photo, she is my daughters best friend and this was before she picked up her date, but had to come by and show off to mom and dad all dolled up.



It has been snowing all day. They aren't going far tonight and I am sure they are all driving different tonight.

[Original Wing Nut]

Great to hear that everything is okay. It sucks getting into an accident but sucks even more when your friend crashes into you. I am sure there have been friendships lost because of it. Let's hope this turns out better.

So far they are still just having fun with it. They call it their bumper car date. I hope, as well things stay cool with all involved as there were 5 of the 12 involved that all live within about 12 homes of me. I am staying possitive that no one will get to uptight about the whole thing. Kids do stupid things and then hopefully learn from them. I know when I was a kid I wasn't perfect and so I don't expect my kids to be. In fact their have been times when my son did things that weren't the smartest and my wife reminds me prior to things getting out of control that they aren't half as bad as I was. People say your kids pay you back for what you did to your parents. I'm sure this was payback for me, my wife just wonders why she has to pay for my youth, when she is pretty sure she was an angel.

[MoneyPity]

First let me say that I am glad no one was injured other than maybe some bruises.

Second IMO it is good that your daughter was driving an SUV/ Jeep. My daughter got hit going thru an intersection in an Isuzu 4x4 by a drunk driver partying in the car and ran a red light and hit the Isuzu Rodeo at 45+ mph and tore up the passenger side of the vehicle, spun it 180 degrees and ripped the tires off the rims. We thought it would be totaled. It became our final decision to total or not. It had low miles, new tires and brakes and if we allowed it to be totaled we would not be able to replace for the settlement check from our insurance (State Farm). It turns out she was hit by an illegal immigrant no insurance, no licensee etc.

We had it fixed by a chain of shops called Collision Revision who do great work on frame issues as well as body panels and the like. Once repaired it was fine.

A couple years ago on a slippery winter day with snow over ice as she was cresting a hill, she saw a car coming at her out of control in her lane head on. She had no place to go except to the ditch to avoid the head on and wrapped her pride and joy, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, around a large oak tree. Score one Jeep for the tree but more importantly Lisa was able to walk away with seat belt bruising and some pulled muscles. The impact with snow and ice on the shoulder and the Oak tree tore apart the undercarraige. One totaled SUV.

Even though she is grown now and living 45 miles away we still get real worried whenever their is foul winter weather occurs. We were given our daughter back safely in two incidents where we are sure circumstances could have been worse if she was in a car.

We felt that education was the most important thing for her to concentrate on after high school so we funded the vehicles until she graduated. She graduated in May of 08 with a Masters in her field of Physical Therapy and once she accomplished that the Jeep was hers including remaining payments. She went on to earn her degree and is now helping others thru their medical issues.

We thank our lucky stars and every year appreciate and celebrate that she came home safe twice in the Xmas season to us

I am very glad that the same was true for you and your family. The Jeep can be fixed or replaced but thank goodness your daughter and others are OK.

Hopefully your daughter and friends learn from the experience. Metal bends, we don't.

As teens we used to play mailbox baseball and when bored with that we became a mailbox moving company with old lead sleds from the 60's. That game ended quickly after a few week ends when we found out people where sinking the poles 6 feet down in concrete. Even the lead sleds could not take that.


Good Luck & Happy Holidays to all.