A few weeks ago, while we were in church, my car was parked on a narrow curved residential street. A resident pulled out of their driveway and dented my car. Fortunately, she is a good person and left her name and number. We spoke on the phone and it ended up going their her insurance. It’s all taken care of now.

Some things I learned along the way…

Life moves on and don’t sweat all the details. I may have to keep track of the details, but don’t have to let it get me down. The dent happened the week before Vineman. I found it very distracting to be on the phone with the lady, her insurance people, my insurance people. I found it distracting to interview the recommended repair shops on my free time. I learned to not really worry about it and let the process go through its paces. I ended up driving my car to Vineman, dents and all. Just so I felt comfortable with my car and all my Tri stuff.

I learned that I can’t get too attached to stuff. I do love my car. But, it’s still just a car. We need stuff to get around. But, I can’t have my happiness wrapped up in a MINI Cooper. I’m not sure I really can do this. But I know it’s true.

Relationships: Working with people to repair stuff is important. Always start out each relationship on the right foot. Even calling the denting lady, I tried to engage her gently. I ended up dealing only with her husband, and that worked out ok. The rental was paid for by the insurance. It took a couple weeks to fix all the stuff. I found the repair shop to be great. I liked the lady that I worked with there. She was super positive and very interested in my triathlons and stuff.

At Vineman I bought a special 70.3 magnet. Ok. I guess I do love my car more than I should. But, hey, I’m from LA.