I knew this day would come.....

My first child's first photo shoot.

 ....but it's still a sad day. As many of you know, I love my car. LOVE my car. She is my baby. Her name is Elly. She is a VW Eos hard top convertible with sunroof and she is just amazing. When we first purchased her, I actually sent out a birth announcement to my family and friends. And did a photo shoot. No kidding. There are as many shots of my car as we took of the babybison this weekend! (I'll post those on here at some point.)

Elly is 4.5 years old. Her birthday is in October. Despite nearing middle age, because of my rigorous parking rules she did not have a scratch on her. Until today.

Elly at the Badlands National Park. 9 months old.

What do I mean by "rigorous parking rules", you might ask? Well, if you've ever parked with me, you know there are only specific parking spots that are Elly friendly. The general rule is that I will only park in a spot if there is no way someone could "accidentally" hit or nick her. Basically, the rule is that only a total a**hole (or someone completely incapable of driving a car) could hit her if she is in an Elly appropriate spot.  More specifically, parking spots must be wide with plenty of room for doors to open or for folks ahead or behind to get out of a parallel parking situation. I do not valet park Elly because I cannot ensure my rules are followed. Sometimes my rules mean I must get to a restaurant or other destination 20 minutes early to circle around and find an acceptable spot. Once, but only once, I actually turned around from my intended destination and went home because I could not find an acceptable spot. My med school and residency friends are well aware of my rules and have always been amazingly patient and supportive (maybe cuz they too deep down love my Elly especially with the top down in the summer!).

Poor Elly!

At work there are 8 or so "acceptable" spots, but since I'm willing to drive to the top of the parking garage if need be I can always find one. Today was no exception. She was in what should have been a safe spot. She was in pristine condition at 4.5 years of age.....

...until today:(

Elly with babybison's matching car seat!

Now I'm trying to keep this in perspective, and besides from tearing up a bit when I first called Adam to report her scrape, I'm trying to remain reasonable. In my line of work (oncology), it's easy to put life nuisances in perspective. I discovered the scrape as I left my Ob appointment where we confirmed that our actual baby is growing well (up to 30th percentile!) and appears healthy. So, really, overall, how can I complain? This blog post is tongue in cheek....partially. (Is it wrong that I am a bit sad about this?)

Elly will always be my first baby, and it pains me to see her harmed. Obviously, we'll have to get her fixed. She can't live like this. I mean, the first thing we did after installing the car seat that we choose in part based on the fact that it matched Elly was take pictures of how cute Elly looks with a carseat. No joke. See right for a photo from yesterday.


The question remains whether the dude or dudette who did this will 'fess up and pay up. I left a note. The perp was a black Nissan Altima whose scrape along the passenger side door was clear proof of the crime. The Geico lady (our insurance) said I sounded like a detective as I was giving her the story. She doesn't know the half of it. I stayed at the scene of the crime for a good 45 minutes taking photos, hoping the guy would show up. Now there is nothing I can do to make this person pay. But I left a note, giving them the benefit of the doubt, acting as though maybe they didn't hear or feel it when they left a FOOT LONG GASH IN MY ELLY. We'll see if they respond. Interestingly, since they park in my garage every day I can leave notes daily. "Happy St Patrick's day, would you like to fix my car?" How many notes until they are guilted into responding?

But I can't wait forever to fix my girl. She needs to be all ready for the arrival of babybison only two months away! So, truth be told, I'll pay to get her fixed. I'm sure many reasonable people in the world would leave a superficial scratch on the bumper of their car and live their lives as if nothing happened. I'm not that reasonable. Thankfully, I have an incredibly understanding husband who appropriately empathized with me and immediately volunteered that we'll get her fixed. Maybe he, like my friends, really likes Elly almost as much as I do. Or maybe he's just a great husband. Probably a bit of both:)

Elly and Adam on a road trip in Michigan!