A CRASH COURSE

My daughter Christa was 16 years old when she got her drivers license.  One fine day she was backing out of the garage, looked over her right shoulder and stepped on the gas petal. Christa was shocked when the car lunged forward and into the wall (it was in drive, instead of reverse).  It put a few little scratches on the front bumper, but destroyed her father's new personalized license plate!  That didn't go over very well with her dad.   A few months later, she took her friends cruising on the boulevard in Saint George.  It was during spring break (one of the busiest times of the year) and of course, she happened to be driving a new car we had just purchased. She was gone less than an hour when she came through the front door and had that same horrified look on her face! When I asked if she was all right, she burst into tears. I could hardly understand what she was saying, but it sounded a little like this...  "I (sob) wrecked (sniff, sniff) the (sniff, sob, sniff) car!"   "Was anyone hurt?" I inquired.   "Only (sniff, sob, sob) my pride," she replied with tears streaming down her cheeks.  She was drowning in disappointment, but I explained that we needed to be grateful that no one was hurt. Then she asked if I would be the one to tell her dad; we both knew he would not be a happy camper. (I remember walking into the bedroom and feeling a little relieved to see that he was already sitting down.)  I said, "Do you love your children more than things?"   "What kind of a question is that!" He responded.  I reiterated, "I need to know if you value your children more than you value your possessions?"   "Of course I do!" He fired back with conviction in his voice. "Good, because your daughter just wrecked your new car." (At that time in our lives, we had already raised five teenagers and each one had wrecked a car or two; seemed to come with the territory!)  There is a little irony to this story.  Christa's senior year at Pine View High School she was presented with "The Best Driver" award!  We still laugh about that one, for she had two more accidents before graduation (both were the other driver's fault of course)! By, Linda Sumner Urza, One find day.