In the Cross Hairs

Do you ever feel that you have a target on your back? I think we have a target on our car.

We bought the car in April of last year; it’s not even a year old. In that time, we have had some very close calls.

The first one was when Cole was playing a baseball in Charleston. We were making the four-hour trip (8 hours round trip) for several days. One day we were in a line of weekend traffic between Columbia and Charleston. The traffic was moving right along, but there was so much traffic it was difficult to see the road surface in front of you. The car ahead of me swerved a bit, but I couldn’t see the reason until it was too late. A big of piece of rubber from a semi flew up when the car ahead hit it and it crashed into the front of our car. Luckily, there was no damage.

Then the idiot in Wal-mart backed into me and put a dent in the side of the car. It’s just a little dent but it is noticeable. His insurance wouldn’t pay and the estimate was under our deductible so the dent is still there.

One night we were on the highway and a little dog ran in front of us. We hit the poor thing, but there was no stopping when driving the speed limit at night and it seemed to come from nowhere. The collision knocked a plastic insert on the front of the car off. There is now a hole in the front of the car.

There have been countless close calls--people pulling out in front of us or moving into our lane of traffic without checking their mirrors. Today only Mr. Fixit quick reflexes kept us safe from a car turning into our traffic lane. I get nervous now just getting into that car. I’m beginning to think it jinxed.