The Call No Parent Wants, Episode 3,740

Or roughly, as far as episode numbers go.

"Mom, please don't get mad!" Bigger Girl said, sounding on the verge of tears.  "I'm out at the little mall, and i was backing out of a parking space, and i dinged another car that was parked crooked, and i don't know what to do!"

No, i didn't get mad.  Just told her to find a piece of paper and pen, and to leave my name and phone number on the windshield, under the wiper blade.

Yes, of course she can find a paper and pen in my van.  It's a rolling suitcase you could live out of for a week, at least.

A couple of hours later, a very nice lady called.  Turns out, thankfully, she is not some nut job who thinks it's their duty to go ballistic on you.  We have the same insurance company.  She gave me her email, i sent her our policy number.  She works for a lawyer, and knows this will be no big deal, the insurance will take care of it.

She also told me to thank Bigger Girl for not panicking and leaving and for being upfront about it.  After all, with so little damage to our vehicle -- a dent in the plastic bumper corner that popped right back out -- she could have just left and said nothing to anyone.

Later, i congratulated Bigger Girl.  Her first accident is over, it's out of her system, and it is a tiny car bump in a parking lot.  #1 Son has her beat by a country mile, his first was to flood out a car during a hurricane, and he has gone through two cars since and damaged the one he is currently driving a couple of times.  Gads.

 To end on a brighter note:


The preacher was really getting into his sermon about how no one is perfect.  He challenges the congregation, "If anyone here is perfect, stand up!"


One man stood.


The preacher looked scornfully at him and thundered, "Do you really believe that you are perfect!"


"Oh, no," he answered.  "I'm just standing in for my wife's first husband."


Today is

Abolition Day -- Guadeloupe

Buttercup Day -- an internet holiday that just sounds fun

Cellophane Tape Day -- patented this date in 1930

Children's Day -- Nigeria

FindleFritter's Stoat-Wheedling Event -- Fairy Calendar

Indianapolis 500 -- Indianapolis, IN, US (the world's single largest one day sporting event)

Mother's Day -- Algeria; Bolivia; Dominican Republic; Haiti; Mauritius; Sweden; Tunisia

National Grape Popsicle Day

Shavuot -- Israel

St. Julius' Day

Sun Screen Day -- an annual reminder to use that SPF protection, every day!

Throw the B*st@rds Out Day -- originally directed at politicians (and if you want to do that, too, great!) but whomever is making your life miserable, toss them out!  or at least, toss them out of your thoughts for today.

Whitsunday / Pentecost -- Christian



Birthdays Today:

Joseph Fiennes, 1970
Jeremy Mayfield, 1969
Todd Bridges, 1965
Adam Carolla, 1964
Louis Gossett, Jr., 1936
Ramsey Lewis, 1935
Henry Kissinger, 1923
Christopher Lee, 1922
Sam Snead, 1912
Hubert H. Humphrey, 1911
Vincent Price, 1911
Dolores Hope, 1909
Dashiell Hammett, 1894
Isadora Duncan, 1878
Wild Bill Hickock, 1837
Julia Ward Howe, 1819
Amelia Bloomer, 1818
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1794


Today in History:

Habeaus Corpus Act, codifying how the writ of habeaus corpus is to be used, passes in UK, 1679
Peter the Great founds St. Petersburg, 1703
In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba  fight against the Spanish army, 1812
In Canada, American forces capture Fort George, 1813
Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco, California, 1907
The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight, 1919
The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public, 1930
Richard Gurley Drew receives a patent for his adhesive tape, later manufactured by 3M as Scotch tape, 1930
The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon  The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", 1933
In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, , 1937
Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format, 1957
Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census, 1967
In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition, 1995
Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire, 1996
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity, 1999
The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600, 2006