Dare

Let me preface this story by telling about an incident that happened several years ago before Elliot and I were even engaged. The year was 1999 and we were young whippersnappers getting ready for our trip to Weiser so that Elliot could meet my parents for the first time. Elliot’s mother was going to take us to the airport and for some reason (I don’t think any of us remember the reason clearly . . . if there was one), Mother Dibble needed to turn the car around to get out of the garage. She turned the entire car around INSIDE the garage! It was nearly a 29-point turn, but it was executed with great ease.

For our trip to California this week, we needed to borrow Mother Dibble’s Durango, so we brought it home tonight and Elliot pulled it into our carport. Before he turned off the car, he decided that he needed to back it into the carport instead for easy loading. As he started to back up, I dared him to turn around without leaving the driveway . . . assuming that this man who thrives on ways to save time and money and tries to avoid all embarrassing situations (lots of neighbors were out watching) would just give me a sympathy laugh and back up quickly. Not so. The man also can’t pass up a challenge when it comes to his driving abilities, so he proceeded to show me how much indeed he is like his Mother by turning the huge Durango completely around in our driveway without crashing into the brick wall or any foliage. Also nearly a 29-point turn and no pictures of the numerous tire marks on the driveway, but still very, very impressive!