Today, I did what I thought only happened to people in movies – usually right before the protagonist ends up being checked into a mental ward. I almost accidentally stole a car.
Now, those of you who follow this blog are well-aware that I am not a stranger to public humiliation. And there may even be those of you reading this who might try to justify my actions in some way by calling the “you’re just tired!” card, or “you have a lot on your mind!” I appreciate that sentiment very much and *might* have considered allowing you to try to convince me, if it weren’t for a few very minor details:
1. A car seat that did not match my own was inside said car.
2. I own a Subaru. This car was not a Subaru.
3. My car is blue. This car was silver.
So yeah – maybe some of you might have previously said to yourselves, “I can totally see myself doing that!” – but I’m fairly certain that if Details #1 and 2 didn’t clue you in to having the wrong car, you PROBABLY would have figured it out by #3.
I did not.
In fact, it took my nearly 5-yr-old to nervously take my arm and ask, “Mommy, where is your car?” before I had even the slightest inkling that anything out of the ordinary was happening. In fact, I was taking her backpack off and starting to load her into this other person’s car seat before it finally dawned on me that hey, maybe my daughter had a point here because hmm, these straps don’t look familiar… at all…
Once I figured out that I was indeed in the process of committing a crime, I quickly collected our belongings, shut the door and started making my way towards my ACTUAL car, attempting to look as nonchalant as possible. I was even beginning to succeed at it, until B happened to notice a friend walking on the other side of the parking lot.
Suddenly, my daughter – who typically needs to repeat herself three times just so I can hear her – let out a voice so thunderous that it probably caused a landslide somewhere. With this earsplitting voice, she proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs that “Guess what!? Mommy tried to take someone else’s car!!”
Needless to say, we continue to make a good impression everywhere we go.