A New Car?

GREEN ONE!

Well, green-ish. So Emma has taken notice of all those VW commercials and insists on playing Slug Bug (without the slugging) every time we climb into the car. So we play and have lots of fun, but when I wrecked the VW Passat Wagon, Emma said immediately, "So, let's get a Bug car." I laughed and thought never in a million years will we ever buy a Bug car.

I later told Allison what Emma said to me about the Bug car, and Emma piped up what a good idea she had about getting a Bug car. Allison looked at Emma. Then, Allison looked at me. She then said, "That is a great idea Emma! Do you realize how cute we will all be driving down the road in a Bug?" I'm thinking that I'm fighting a loosing battle, but we were picking up Madison from school soon, and she will take my side. When we picked her up and she got in the van, Emma blurted out, "Madison, we're getting a Bug car!"

To make everybody happy, I made the comment, which I thought would win the battle for me, "We will go test drive a Bug car to see if Daddy even fits in one." For those of you that don't know me, I'm a 6'3" 300 pound man with big, broad shoulders. I tried to fit in a VW Jetta once, but I was way too big. I thought that the Bug car would be similar in size, so I thought we would never talk about a Bug car again. We made our way to a local dealership to find a Bug car on the lot, so we ask to test drive it. I started laughing at the thought of possibly getting stuck in the car (it's happened before) as I sit down. I'm sure Allison was laughing at the look on my face as I looked all around trying to figure out where all that room was coming from. I was shocked! It has as much or more room than my recently deceased VW Passat. So...

I lost the battle. So for a week or so we have search all over the internet, talked with the professionals about the differences Bug cars can have, and we test drove many different Bug cars all over the county. The picture above is a Green(ish) 2001 VW New Bettle 2.0 Liter engine with automatic transmission and leather, heated seats. It is getting one final inspection at the shop to make sure everything is in order, and then we will pick it up Tuesday or Wednesday when it will be officially part of our family.

Gregg

Total Loss

Tuesday morning was a little different than our usual morning, even before the above picture happened. Our babysitter was generous enough to take Emma Monday overnight, and she brought her back Tuesday morning. So we got completely ready even before Emma got home, and as many of you know, Emma is loud and bouncy. So our morning was much quieter than normal, but once she was home, Madison, Emma, and I left for school.

On the way to school, I practice Madison's spelling words with her, and when she finishes spelling all the words from her list, we all get to listen to music. So as we head north on a road near our house, I ask Madison for her spelling list, and she informs me that she received one from her teacher but she doesn't have it anymore. Just to give you a little background on this road we are traveling, it is straight for most of the trip with a few driveways along the way. After about a quarter mile on this road is when I asked Madison for her spelling list, when she doesn't have it, I turn to look at her and ask her why. She then yelled, "DAD!"

I turned just in time to slam on my brakes to reduce the impact my car made on the stopped car. The truck in front of the car I hit was turning left onto a seldom used gravel driveway. In fact, after years of driving this road, I have never seen a car turn into or out of this driveway. I have never, ever seen a parked car or truck in this driveway that doesn't even have a house belonging to it. No excuse but come on!

The girls cried, especially Emma. When we all calmed down, we all ended up to be fine. The girls are sore, and my neck and back are killing me and giving me a nasty headache. When I talked with my insurance company's appraiser, he said that the structural damage is bad enough that the car is a, "Total loss." He didn't even spend any time looking at the engine, but I guess there is no point at that time. The car had 170,000 miles on it and took us across the country, but I'm going to miss it. It has driven me to endless classes, but it won't drive me to pharmacy school. I have driven tens of thousands of miles to and from work but never as a pharmacist. The car treated me very well, and we will all miss it. Now that it's gone and Emma's tears have dried, she is trying to convince me to buy a yellow Bug. Now it looks like I'm outnumbered as Allison and Madison have joined Emma's side, but the biggest problem getting a Bug, I don't fit inside.

When we emptied my VW of all its contents, I ended up with this small box of stuff, and the first aide kit took up most of the space. Thank goodness nobody was really hurt from the accident, and I am especially thankful for the great police officer that wrote me a ticket for not paying attention while driving (seriously, he was great with the kids and the whole situation), the fire fighters, and the EMTs. Everybody was fabulous with the girls and really calmed everybody down.