I have learned many lessons in life so far, and I have many more to learn. One important thing I’ve learned is to always look behind you when you back up, even if you don’t think anyone or anything is there.

I am no perfect driver. I’ve had my fair share of accidents. One hit deer, smashed windshield, and two car accidents, backing up both time’s me hitting the exact same car. 

It took me a couple tries to learn this life lesson, but I’ve got the hang of it now. The first time I hit a car backing up was in summer. I was in a rush for no reason. I remember sitting in my car and thinking how mad my dad is going to get. I had gotten out of my car to go look at the damage and my bumper was bent in and the green painted medal was dented and all chipped away, some of the green flakes being on her car and a big dent with a broken headlight. That isn’t even the worst of the damage, I went to go get my mom to tell her about it because talking to my dad is like talking to an angry guy you ding dong ditched for the last couple weekends. So my mom came to look and she gasped and told me to “go get Paige” so I went and got Paige and with Paige came my dad so everyone got to see the damage all at once. It got even worse when she tried opening her passenger side door and it wouldn’t open. This ended up being 8,000 dollars worth of damage. 

I thought I had learned my lesson to not be lazy and look in my mirror when I backed up. But, a couple of months went by and the same girl with the same car was parked at  the end of our driveway. An all black Jeep Cherokee. I had just gotten home, it was a colder night where you  could see your breath and there was fresh salt splashed up onto the sides of the cars. I was reversing looking out the sides of my mirrors and knew the car was there but thought I had plenty of room. I did not. As soon as I took my eyes off the car and got ready to shift it into drive I bumped her car again. I went to go look at  it and with the salt being on the car I thought maybe the scrapes I was seeing weren't actual damage, but it was. So then I had to call my dad and tell him about it. He didn’t answer so I figured a text would be the easy way out, but later that night  he called me and was telling me I was ruining his friendship with them and being mean. He felt so bad about how he talked to me he called the next  day and apologized.

After all of these accidents. One thing is for sure. I know to look behind me when I  reverse and don’t stop looking behind me until the job is done. From there on out I haven’t hit  a single car since.