Cars: “The Big And The Grand”

Day 268

Sadly, this was only picture I could find of this car -

This was taken a few days after "The Blizzard of '97", hence the huge amount of snow on the hood

When my family lived in Rigby, Idaho we got a new car: a Dodge Grand Caravan. At that time the car seemed so big and grand to me. I remember that I loved how spacious it was inside, plenty of room for me and my siblings, so we could each have our own seat with a window view (that was apparently very important to us).

A few years later we were in Greeley, Colorado and I was licensed to drive. And “Big Red” was the vehicle I was able to drive, and I loved it! I wasn’t worried about driving a sporty, flashy car because I just loved the freedom and maturity that came with driving any car. “Big Red” was a good car for me.

But then on my brother Jordan’s birthday I had my first car accident. I had driven Jordan and Josh to the mall and on our back way home I was in the process of making a left-hand turn in an intersection; suddenly another car zoomed by and hit the front driver side of the van. I remember going into complete shock - even now I feel that awful sickness in my stomach!

Luckily no one was seriously hurt, although Jordan had to be taken to the hospital because he had hit his head and needed some tests to make sure he didn’t have a concussion (he was fine - thank goodness!). The damage to the van was not too bad and my parents were both very loving and understanding and not angry with me, and that helped a lot.

It could have been a lot worse, but for me this felt like a big, grand, horrible accident, and I felt like I had ruined Jordan’s birthday. I was devastated!

I got my first lesson in injustice that day, as I was given a ticket even though the other car had been speeding and running a red light. Because I was making a left-hand turn I was supposed to yield to any oncoming traffic - yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense!

Fortunately, my dad told me to fight it in court and I was able to get my ticket deferred by not having another accident or getting any tickets for the next year. How did I pull that off? I didn’t drive at all! And that was because I was so freaked out about the accident.

But just like falling off a bike, you have to get back up and try it again and so I did eventually get back into the driver’s seat. “Big Red” was a good car and I enjoyed driving it.