Sorry mom

I did not release 1.5 million helium filled balloons into the air into a storm (Balloonfest '86) but I did (partially) wreck my mom's new car (that was to be mine in a short 6 months). The setting: a parking lot. Not just any parking lot, but the parking lot of a church. A church of which I was about to attend my cousin's wedding at.

Let me break it down for you. I'm 15 years old at the time, well 15 1/2 to be exact. My mom bought me my first car and decided she would drive it for a year before I got my license. That's where the car came from, now how I wrecked it. It's the summer before I turned 16,  my mom and I were dolled headed down to my first cousin's BIG DAY.

My mom pulled up to the parking spot at SMU. The two of us proceed to get out of the car. After shutting the door my mom and I glanced up and saw a sign that read "Handicap" parking. By this  time my mom had caught a few family members and greeted them. Busy talking, not thinking my mom handed me the keys, "Sophia, would you mind moving the car?" I, of course, jumped right on that because driving is cool (until you have to do it all the time). She then told me she trusted me and to be careful. I started the engine, confident as ever!! I reverse the car, pull into a new spot and I'm all set, right?

I look up and of course, it's another handicap spot I can't stay in...I turn the car back on and start to reverse again. As I reverse out, I think I have enough room to pull out and then forward. I put the car into drive expecting to then pull out of the spot but a couple walking by sidetracked me for a moment. As they walked by I decided maybe I didn't have enough room to pull out, so thinking in my head that the car is still in reverse for a bizarre reason I step on the gas and ram right into the back of a red Sedan. If the damage didn't look bad enough from my point of view I broke the radiator so the car started smoking which made the situation appear 10x better than it was.

Ouch... I, a 15 year old trusted with the responsibility to re-park a car and I totally failed to complete my task, and did worse! At this point I think I had created a puddle from the tears that were spilling out. Being in trouble and unemotionally stable are not the best mix.

 We found the persons car that I hit, gathered their insurance information and I didn't hear the end of it with my mother. We decided to put all that behind us and go support our family member on one of the biggest days of her life. I then decided that I would not again jump so quickly on an opportunity that could possibly lead to disaster. You may want to think about watching out for me in the POP parking lot friends :)