Nicky Rennie: A crash course in parenting

Sincere thanks go to our local police and the tow truck driver. Photo / Bevan Conley

OPINION

This parenting lark doesn’t seem to get any easier.

There is always a lot in the media about your life changing in an instant. My daughter and I got a dry run at it this week. Not something that I’d recommend.

We’d had a nice wee chat and off she shot in her beloved car, “Rachel”. I thought, “That was a nice chat.”.I continued working and then the phone rang. The fact it was her speaking was a good thing because she had just crashed into a power pole head on.

I don’t think anyone can prepare you to hear that. She was understandably very shaken, as was I. I tried to be calm and collected when I called one of my co-workers to let her know what had happened and to inform my boss. Epic fail.

It’s quite difficult to say crash, power pole and daughter in one sentence without the enormity of it hitting you. I didn’t quite know what I was going to find.

I have expended so much energy worrying about her travelling around the country in her car that I can’t tell you, then here I am driving to a local street with a 50km/h speed limit. You just never know.

The power pole was nearly cut in half and she and her friend are very lucky girls. Her car is a write-off, but I’m not sure she’s aware how lucky they were. To be fair, her car was in average health anyway.

Her only concern was losing her car, which means her independence is gone temporarily. I’m thinking, “I grew you, it would be a good thing if you realise that I nearly had a heart attack when I got your call.”

I don’t know if the people who were there to help will read this, but my sincere thanks go out to our local police and the tow truck driver. I can’t begin to imagine how many awful sights they see but they were next-level great with my child and her concerned mother. I’m a very slow processor of bad things.

This happened only last Wednesday and I’m not sure if I’ve dealt with it yet. I’m not sure if I’m a wuss or if this is normal, but all sorts of horrible things go through your mind — but the most prevalent is gratitude that my daughter and her friend are uninjured.

We can deal with everything else that happens as a result of the accident; some are not so lucky and my heart goes out to them.

The next step is to remove the car from my home. Tow trucks were called but oh no, my child is an eternal optimist it would appear. The piece of metal that was Rachel is hanging on by a thread on my front lawn but she seems to think she can sell it for parts on Marketplace.

Lordy Miss Claudy. If she can pull that off I’ll be amazed (and quite proud). Her concern is she created so many memories in her car, but explaining that she can make more in another car seems to have fallen on deaf ears. It’s hard to explain to a young adult that they are just lucky to be alive.

Quite frankly, I’d be very happy if she never got behind the wheel of a car again but life isn’t like that, is it? I’m just glad I still have her life in mine.