Click, Clack, and Dad
I once poked fun at my sister when her car broke down in the middle of the road, and she called our dad, who was many miles away, to help her out. Until recently I thought she called him because she expected him to run down the street, take a look under her hood, and make everything right. I thought, call AAA, duh!This week I had a similar, though way less immediate, car concern. I went from getting a simple oil change to possibly paying hundreds in repairs for things I hadn’t seen coming. When I felt helpless, confused, and just plain pissed off about spending my well-earned day off trying to deal with adult issues like car troubles, I called my dad. See my sister knew years ago what I rediscovered that morning with my car in jeopardy: Husbands have no clue (especially when they always lease their cars) and dads have the patience and the wisdom to deal with their crying daughters.
No matter what distance he was from our ailments, he dropped everything to listen, instruct, and do whatever he could. I knew my dad couldn’t see my balding tires, and he couldn’t talk to the mechanic about my check engine light, but calling him was the first thing I did when I had no idea what to do. He listened to my immature tears and woes, he gave the best advice he could, and he reminded me that it was just a car.
Even though my eyes had dried while my wheels were replaced and my engine was inspected, I kept my dad updated on my progress. Like my sister, I didn’t expect him to physically come fix all my car woes, but by being my contact, my support while I made grown-up decisions, he did make everything a bit better.
And that is what dads are for. Thanks Dad!
Now if only I wasn’t off the books....
posted by calipand @ 11:09 PM
6 Comments:
If no clue means having all your maintenance taken care of the whole time you own your car -then sign me up for ignorance! whoo hoo.
It sounds as though your phone call to your dad went smoother than the phone calls I have always made to my dad. I can look back on those calls and remember words being said like " why are you crying about this, this is nothing to cry about,why did you call me and not AAA... over the years of these phone calls(and there were many phone calls), I made it clear that these comments were not helpful and that I already knew all of these things and that what I needed was some simple calming phrases and probably a credit card number. I hope the many many tears your sister shed helped bring your dad to the point that he could help from miles and miles away. I know my dad is very helpful now, however I have started calling AAA first even though I am crying.
Dads can never get it right...or do they?
I have to agree with LukeW on this one, seems he's figured it out. Calling Dad was never the first thing I did when experiencing a car mishap because nine times out of ten I was doing something illegal/embarassing and causing damage to a vehicle that he actually owned. Therefore the farther away, the better. Now the proud owner / lessee of two cars, suffice it to say my first call is to the mechanic and Scott's still not sure how to pop the hood.
I had a dad that didn' think women should know anything about cars. I don't think he even thought we should drive them. This dad you all talk about took me under his wings and taught me a great deal about cars both before we had money to get things fixed by someone else and once we had money to pay someone to have things fixed. We worked on our cars together, had many a fight, but grew closer together too. Remember when One of you calls with a problem he is usually deep in work and the call comes out of the blue. He tries to react correctly but somethimes it takes him a few minutes to change gears. Remember he loves you all and always tries to do the very best. From a mom, wife and daughter
sometimes a car is just a car...
Post a Comment
<< Home