Carey = 0, The Parking Garage = 3

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been really lucky with an easy pregnancy and while that is true, there is something in our household that has not been as lucky...my car. I drive a little two-door, 2008 blue Honda Civic. I originally wanted to get a Prius, but there was a lengthy waiting list here in the KC area, so we settled on the Civic, which I really like. After previously driving a 1997 Mercury Sable and our 2004 Escape, the Civic seemed so small and speedy. So small that BJ and I nicknamed it the "Baby Car" because it was easily lost in parking lots and seemed so small compared to some other vehicles.

We discussed getting a four-door car when we realized that we were expecting, but ultimately decided that we could make that change while I'm on maternity leave after Poppy arrives and I could continue to enjoy my little Civic. A decision that the Civic resents to this day.

I'll be honest - I'm never going to be featured under a "best driver in the world" title; however, I was lucky enough to avoid any collisions or incur any vehicle damage until the last few months. In my defense, I now park in a different parking garage that has numerous cement barricades and very small spaces. Granted, somehow F-150 trucks and Hummers park in the garage, but that defies my sense of depth perception and I consider those feats small miracles.

Anyway, one of the few mornings that I wasn't feeling so hot, I was very casually pulling into a parking spot with a cement barricade on my right. I heard a scrape and instead of stopping, putting the car in reverse and avoiding any further damage, I hit the gas a little harder. Incident number 1 - a scrape along the front passenger side of my car, totally my fault. I was upset, but not defeated. With a renewed sense of paying better attention to my surroundings, BJ and I obtained a quote from a local body shop and were ready to fix the damage the following week.

A few days later, but prior to our body shop appointment, I was leaving the office and saw a huge door ding on my passenger side door. It was huge and it made me mad. Us lowly associates do not have assigned parking spots so there have been numerous issues with door dings in the parking garage. So, I decided to cancel our body shop appointment with the realization that I should wait until the policy changes for us to receive assigned parking spots. Incident 2 - a door ding that was not my fault.

Last Wednesday, I was leaving the office to attend a client meeting. For reasons completely unknown to me, I decided to "crank it" as I was backing out of the spot, despite the cement barricade to my right. Well, I heard a loud crash and watched in horror as my passenger side mirror started dangling. I pulled back into the spot to assess the damage and realized that we would have to replace the side passenger mirror. I called poor BJ to explan the latest saga and assured him that it was just the mirror. Incident 3 - the detachment of my passenger side mirror, my fault.

We were at the Honda dealership getting a new side mirror attached when we started talking about a trade-in for a four-door model. The salesperson went out to assess the Civic, came back in all wide-eyed and said something along the lines of "with all of the damage, you'll be looking at a much larger monthly payment." "All of the damage" I thought...heck, now that we fixed the side mirror it is just a door ding and small scrape on the front of the car. I shared my thoughts with BJ and said "no, it's pretty bad - I don't think you looked at your passenger door." So out I waddle to the car when I realize that it was not "just the side mirror" like I originally thought, I also managed to cause severe damage to the passenger side door.

Given the slew of damage that I've caused in the last few months, we made the decision that I should continue to drive the "less than pretty" car until my depth perception (hopefully) returns. I now get fun little emails every morning from co-workers giving me a "heads up" that they are parked six spots away from me and to try to avoid hitting their cars when I am leaving.

I would post pictures, but I feel bad subjecting the Civic to additional ridicule and I do have a few shreds of dignity left.