One Of The Many Reasons I Married Mike

One of the many reasons I married Mike is his ability to remain calm in a stressful situation.  I'll give you an example from today of this very thing.

I was going to meet a friend of mine for lunch at
11:00 at a nearby mall.  As I pulled into the busy mall parking lot, I spotted an open parking space just a few spots back from a main entrance.  The spot was a bit tight as it was flanked on either side by large pick-up trucks.  But I thought I could fit, so I went for it.  Shortly after I turned the wheel and started moving forward I heard a horrible scraping/metal-crunching sound coming from the passenger side door of my mini-van.  Not good.  I panicked and immediately backed out.  Instantly my palms started to sweat and my heart rate sped up considerably.  I quickly looked at the bumper of the white Ford F250 I had hit.  It appeared to be fine, but my fight or flight instinct kicked in and flight won out.  I immediately drove to the other side of the mall, parked, and assessed the damage of my own vehicle.  Unfortunately, our van didn't fare as well as the truck, which had some sort of metal bumper thing sticking out the back of it.  I had decent sized scrape down my passenger side door.  A noticeable scratch.  Ugh.

I found my friend and told her I needed to go home and show Mike.  She had some shopping to do, so she stayed at the mall and I drove home crying all the way.  Why did I think I could fit into that parking space!?!
I was beating myself up the whole way there.  When I got home all I wanted to do was go crawl under my covers for awhile, but instead I showed Mike the damage and told him the story.

This is why I love him-- he didn't yell at me or make me feel bad.  He was calm.  He hugged me.  He told me that it would be okay.  Then he turned his concern to the other truck involved.  I told him I couldn't say with 100% certainty that it hadn't received any damage.  I had quickly looked at it and sped away in shame.  I think that is why I felt so bad about the situation.  I was having a bit of guilt about "fleeing the scene of the crime."  So my sweet husband drove back to the mall, found the truck still there, examined it thoroughly, and determined that in fact no damage had occurred.  It made me feel so much better.

Thankfully, I was able to still meet my friend for lunch-- just a little later than planned.  And yes, it stinks that we will have to pay to have the dent fixed some day, but overall I can walk away thankful for a husband who stays calm in a crisis, and who isn't afraid to do the right thing.