First minivan ding

So in addition to my first ticket in the minivan, I also made my first ding in the minivan. I swung to park in a space that was the wrong way (I was too enticed by the good parking spot) so I immediately had to back up a little. I didn't look because I didn't think anyone would actually try to sneak by in back of me but they did and *honk* crunch and there's my first ding.

I couldn't believe it. And like my first ticket, Tobey's questions were coming a mile a minute. How come you're getting out of the car, Mommy? Why are we stopped? How come you're backing up again? Can I come out and see? It took all that was within me and more to not snap back at him in a moment that was completely maddening.

The weird part of the ding was that, being a crowded parking lot, the car that I hit at first had stopped but then since she was in the way, drove away. I saw the driver's face in the mirror and also caught a glimpse of her license plate as she drove away, assuming that she was just finding a better space to park and we'd have to exchange our info. But I couldn't see her. Then I saw a few cars that looked like hers but no sign of her. Then I saw her walk out from her car with a bag, she saw me standing outside of my car with pen and paper in hand, and she walked into her store as if nothing happened. I checked that she was the car I memorized the license plate off of and I took a look at her car. I couldn't tell of any damage or dings on her car. Maybe that's why she just walked away.

So I look back at my car and the ding actually isn't a ding, it's a paint scratch the size of a shriveled up pea. And the crunch might have just been our black plastic step cover popping out of place which just snapped back into place. To me it was unclear who was at fault: me for not looking or her for trying to sneak by. After a frantic call to Tom we concluded that if she didn't care and we have no real damage, it's probably not worth going to insurance, blah blah blah. So we left it.

But first ding and first ticket along with soccer mom frenzy does make me more aware of how unsafe I can be behind the wheel when in a rush, when with kids, when preoccupied with things to do in my head, basically, when in mom mode.