STROLLING DOWN MEMORY LANE | PART 1

memory lane wrecked car

STROLLING DOWN MEMORY LANE | SILVER FORD CAPRI ACCIDENT


I was born and raised in California but, due to some major life changes, I moved to live with my dad in Iowa at the end of my freshman year. He was a recruiter for the Army and was stationed in Waterloo. I spent my sophomore and junior year of high school in Iowa.

We lived 25 minutes from Waterloo on an old Naval base. It was located 3 miles outside of the small town of Waverly.

Waverly is the kind of small town where you practically know everyone. The largest store around was Walmart. It had one main street that ran through town, a four lane called Bremer Avenue. There were two grocery stores, a small 2-screen movie theater, and a smathering of local mom and pop shops. The one high school served two towns, Waverly and Shell Rock, thus the name Waverly-Shell Rock High School, or WSR for short. You get the idea…small town.

My first summer there was awful because I was in a completely different environment than I was used to, and I didn’t know a soul. I spent most of my time in my room listening to music, missing my friends, and crying.

My step-mom encouraged me to get a job thinking it would help me meet people. I got hired at the movie theater running the snack bar.

As my step-mom had hoped, I did meet someone. I became friends with a girl named Lori. After work one night, Lori invited me to go to a party with her. The party was at Tom and Deb’s house, who eventually became some of my best friends. Tom and I even dated for a short time.

Somewhere along the way, and I honestly can’t remember how or when, I met who would become my other best friend in Iowa, Teresa, my ride or die friend. She lived in Janesville, an even smaller town than Waverly.

If you have ever had two best friends, you may notice that one is the logical, “safe” friend. She is the one that keeps you from doing stupid shit, and is probably the one you call to help you out of a tough situation. The other friend is the one that is getting into trouble with you. Deb was the safe, logical friend and Teresa was the one I got into so much trouble with. This blog is about one of those times.

During the summer, after my sophomore year, I got my license. I drove one of the three cars my dad had, all Ford Capris. I don’t know what it was about this car, but my dad loved them. We had a blue, a brown, and a silver model…I’m not sure of the year. My step-mom drove the blue car, my dad drove the brown, and I drove the silver….the one I crashed.

It happened one weekend when Teresa and I drove into town to find our friends and hang out. While driving down Bremerton we saw a friend of ours walking down the street, past the movie theater. We were at a stop light that had just turned green so we weren’t gong very fast. We turned to yell at our friend and wave hello. Suddenly we plowed into the car in front of us, which had come to a stop because of the car in front of it. I didn’t notice it had stopped because I had turned my head (keep your eyes on the road kids!). Teresa and I were not wearing our seatbelts. We were ejected from our seats and slammed into the windshield, shattering it with our heads. Fortunately we were not hurt.

We walked to a local business to call my dad (no cell phones back then). After giving him the details I called Deb. A few days prior we had gotten into an argument and she was still mad at me. Remember, there is always that one friend that you will call when you need them, and they will be there. She came right away.

After my dad assessed the damage and took care of all the legalities, he made me drive the car home, with shattered windshield and everything. His point was he didn’t want me to be afraid of driving again. As Teresa and I drove the 3 miles home, little shards of glass from the windshield rained down on us.

This accident would be the first of many for me. In future posts I will be sharing how I eventually ended up crashing all three of my dad’s cars!

memory lane girls sitting in a car
Here is a picture of Teresa and I in our friend Joel’s car around that same time.

Be on the lookout for more stories where you’ll meet my other best friends…Deb and Joel!

Read more about me.

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