It wasn't always so. Although she was excited to have her first vehicle she was apprehensive about driving a stick shift. I thought it was awesome. I told her that having this skill just might be necessary one day if she needed to drive someone's car in order to get them safely home....you know....to avoid anyone driving drunk. Now this rationale is interesting for a couple of reasons. One...I of course assumed my daughter would be the designated driver and not the one drinking and two....I had no idea that Lauren would later be killed by a drunk driver.
My sister Beth has a manual transmission in her vehicle so Lauren had practiced a bit with her aunt prior to us purchasing her truck. We bought the truck in October and Lauren got her license the first week of January. I wanted to drive the truck myself a few times to test its reliability and I wanted Lauren to gain some more practice.
After getting her license she was still hesitant to drive her truck on her own. It took some tough love on my part to finally get her behind the wheel. It was softball season and she was required to attend a practice on a Saturday while I would be working at the restaurant. I readied myself for work and went into Lauren's room to tell her goodbye. As I was heading out the door I said ¨By the way don't forget you have softball practice at 11:30. Keys to your truck are on the counter. See ya later baby girl, have a great practice.¨ After that day she was off and running.
That little truck ran like a champ. She had fun decking it out in camouflage seat and steering wheel covers and hanging Domos from the rear view mirror. If you are unfamiliar with what a Domo is just wait....this topic will have its own story one day on my blog. I don't want to spoil the surprise.
During Christmas break one year Lauren called and told me she had been in an accident. After starting my heart again and asking if she was alright Kevin and I headed to the scene. She had apparently hydroplaned while attempting to stop quickly at an intersection after she assumed the car in front of her was going through the light. She rear ended the older model Firebird in front of her shattering its back window and shoving it into the intersection. Thank God no other vehicles were coming through at that time and the car was not hit a second time. Unfortunately her little Ranger was totaled due to the motor mounts breaking and the engine shifting back against the transmission. Her air bag also deployed and the steering wheel would cost more to replace than we had paid for the entire truck. It was time to say good bye to the Ranger...and hello to a payment.
We needed to get Lauren another car pretty quickly as she was working part time at JC Penney and attending school part time at HCC. Kevin and I couldn't get her everywhere she needed to be. So we searched all over town and settled on a red 2006 Mazda 6. Again, this was a great car. In good condition and sporty. The camo seat cover was transferred to the new ride and she was off.
Here's the funny thing about these newer vehicles...you can't just go to Home Depot and have a new key cut when you lose yours. The car only came with one key so we spent $130.00 having a back up key made at the time of purchase. When Lauren had her purse stolen out of a friend's vehicle one night it contained her keys. That meant the spare would now need to be given to her. And we needed to rekey our house. Oh, by the way, all of this was going on while Kevin and I were on our honeymoon and Lauren was texting me all of the details. Very romantic.
Then one day Lauren sent me a picture of her key fob with no key sticking out. She had no idea how it had broken or where the missing piece was now. After racking my brain as to how I could get her another key I ended up taking my original purchase order to the Mazda dealership, paying $45.00 each for 2 new more simple keys (no fob), driving out to her school, calling a locksmith and paying him an additional $45.00 per key to program the chip inside and $30.00 a piece for the necessary code. Then of course I had to take my poor starving college student to dinner while I was there. Approximately $350.00 later, Lauren and I both had a new key to her car.
Now the Mazda sits in my front circle drive. I have driven it a few times and actually really like it. Trouble is Kevin and I don't need three cars. My step daughter is not interested in using it when she gets her license and I can't say I blame her. So we will eventually sell it. One more loose end to tie up in the aftermath of losing my sweet girl. I really miss seeing her in that cute car....and everywhere else.
No comments:
Post a Comment