Monday, November 01, 2010


This morning I have a stiff neck because over the weekend I drove into a ditch.

Twice.

I was parking in the dark at my sister's house,
where I was leaving our car,
so I could attend the surprise party for my brother two doors down.

There was a car in the driveway already
but it looked like I could fit next to it,
so I pulled up and

ka-chunk

my right wheel went down into the drainage ditch
next to the driveway.

It was sort of covered in leaves so I thought it was just earth
not a ditch.

Things like this don't trouble me too much.
We were all surprised but nobody was hurt,
so I laughed and said something dumb like,

"I just drove into a hole!
And now I'm gonna do it again!"

But see I didn't mean to do it again.

I meant to back out in a better way than I had pulled in,
but I didn't,
so I did do it again
and there was a harsh grating of metal
as my wheel went back down into the ditch
and the bottom of the car met the asphalt driveway.

It was sort of jarring, too, hence the stiff neck.

The first time I laughed,
the second time I smiled a fake smile
with lots of teeth and apologetic eyes
at the Husband who just blew out a bunch of air
that he had been saving for this moment apparently.

The kids were thrilled, as usual,
and sprinted ahead of us
two doors down to tell the gathered family
that I drove into a ditch.

I assumed a solemn face
and walked to the house quietly,
keeping my aggravating optimism
to myself.

*

6 comments:

Brian Miller said...

awww...sorry for the rough spot...hope the neck feels better...

William Cryderman said...

I've done that so many times. It always makes me mad, but it still happens.
Just tell the husband to put a sock in it! Ha!

Dad

CiCi said...

Ouch. You have a good attitude about life's adventures.

Heidi Lee said...

I take full blame.

We have the worst driveway EVER and there is NO LIGHT at the end of this road.

After 8 years of living here, I still can't back out of here straight and have to do it a few times or I'll go right into the ditch.

Lisa Y. said...

ugh. Done that too. Any car damage? Did you need a tow truck?

Cammie said...

Ugh! You do have a great attitude about it! I got in my car just the other day to go somewhere and pushed the door opener in my car as I was getting in. I saw the other door go up on Dave's side of the garage but didn't look further; started my car and put it into reverse. I didn't realize that my door didn't open (didn't even look) until I heard a little crunch! Ouch.