My Personal Attitude to Thanksgiving
I had my license for a few months already. I always asked my parents could borrow their car. They always gave me a hard time for the car. So the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I was afraid to ask for the car because they usually say no to me.
I saw that my mother wasn't going to work that day so I asked her if I could borrow her car for the day since it was freezing outside. She kept telling me hold on so she could think, so I waited in the kitchen for her answer. She finally gave me her keys and kept telling me, "You better be careful with my car". I picked up my friend that lives down the block because we both went to the same high school. Usually I would take Foster Street straight down, but I used the side streets thinking it would be better and faster to get to school.
As I drove to school there was a semi-truck in the middle of the side street. The driver of the truck was telling me to go, that I had enough space to pull through. I do not know why I listened to him because I did not have enough room. I hit the truck with the side mirror and it was hanging by the side, my stomach dropped. I could not believe I broke the car mirror. I arrived at school, all my friends knew something wrong with me because I looked really worried. I asked my friend what I should do about the car. Most of my friends told me to lie about the car, tell my mom that somebody hit the mirror when I was in class. I knew I couldn't lie to my mom about her car, if I did my mother would never trust me with her car ever again. And having a parent not trust you can be one of the worst feelings in the world.
I had a half day at school I didn't talk to anybody at school because I was thinking about ways to fix the mirror so my mother would not be as mad. After school I went to my friend's house to see if he could help me out with the mirror. The mirror was just hanging on the side he told me, "You need to go get it fixed". I was willing to do anything so my mother wouldn't be upset with me but I knew there was nothing I could do to fix her mirror.
My mom called me when I was still over at my friend's house and asked when will I be home. I got off the phone and said bye to my friend then left their house. I drove home and finally parked the car in back. I just sat in the back nervous to go in the home, my face was blank. As I walked through the door my heart was beating really fast. I slowly opened the back door and my mom was already sitting at the kitchen table. I looked at my mother with a disappointing face and told her what happen to the car.
Her face was shocked, she thought I was joking with her. But I told her I was being serious about the situation. She went to the back and looked at the mirror. She stood out there for about five minutes with my dad. They both were upset with me but they were glad I told them the truth about the mirror. My brother kept teasing me about breaking the car mirror that made me feel worse about it.
Later that day my father and I went to an auto store where they can fix the mirror. My father knew the guy who owns the shop so he gave him a good deal buying the mirror because he also needed to buy the piece that holds it up and reconnected it. So we had to wait a week so they can ship in the new parts for the mirror. I had a talk with my mother about the mirror. She told me " it's okay, I'm glad you told me what really happened to the mirror instead of lying to me". After she said that I felt a little better but was still guilty of what I did to the mirror.
The next day was Thanksgiving and my family came over for dinner. My brother mentioned it during dinner and I felt so embarrassed because that was one of the dumbest things I could do. My cousin asked me how it happened so I explained it to her. Her husband just laughed at me and said "It's all right everybody has car accidents once in their life just don't let it happen again". After that we finally stopped talking about it.
The next week the owner of the auto shop called my father to tell him the parts for the mirror finally came in that day. So my father took the car over there and got it fixed, I was glad they did it quick because my mother needed her car to drive to work. She was using my father's car to work but she didn't like driving his car there.
After this accident I never asked my mom for her car anymore because I was nervous something like this would happen again to me. But my father always said "I need to trust myself more with the car". So after a few months I finally asked her for the car and nothing bad happened to me. She always jokes around and tells me not to break her mirror again and laugh about it. So every time I used her car I was always safe. That summer my mother got a new car and she was the only one who used the car. After three months of having her new car she finally let me use it. Once again she brought up the mirror accident and I got nervous to drive her new car.
This experience made me learned that I shouldn't lie to my mom about the car even though I didn't lie to her, I know she would have been really upset with me. If I tried to lie to her, I know she will find out somehow. I would feel really guilty that I had lied to her about the mirror.
When I take anybody's car I make sure I drive it safe. I will always get nervous behind the wheel because of that one little accident. When I drive the car I always drive careful. I pay attention to the mirror to watch for other cars and to make sure I have enough room to pass. When I drive on the expressways I am very careful because there are a lot of other cars.
This happened two years ago my family still makes fun about it. It doesn't bother me like it did before but it's still embarrassing. When I talk to people about it they tell me about their car accidents and I seen that my accident was not bad. Going down that side street with a semi-truck there was a big mistake and now I know I will never go through that experience ever again. If I had to go down a street because of the semi-truck I would take my time carefully and not let other people tell me I have enough room when I don’t.
