Caspian goes driving.

Yesterday morning around 7:30 everyone was getting ready for the day.  Alexe and I were enjoying the glow of our anniversary, and we were running on schedule, so everyone was happy.  Alexe, Annaliese and I were in our bedroom getting hair into ponytails and whatnot, when the car horn beeped, Caspian screamed "Mommy", and the car went whizzing by our bedroom window and smashed into the back of our neighbor's garage.

Caspian, who was all suited up for the day, had gone outside, opened the car door, climbed behind the wheel, and pulled the shifter into neutral.

As he went by, honking and screaming, he was sitting behind the wheel, holding on tight, with the driver's side door still open.

First, he is fine.  He wasn't hurt at all, and while the rest of us were shaky and upset until around noon, Caspian was completely un-phased.

The car, retaining wall, and garage were less fortunate, though the turtle that got a surprise wake-up seems to have recovered.

Poor Boatie.  She always tries her best, and our family is not easy on her.

If you look closely you can see in the lower right corner the turtle on his back.  I didn't notice him until his head tentatively poked out a few minutes later.

I pulled her back from the garage to get a look at the damage.

At first it looked like the garage had been plowed into, but after getting the car out of the way, the cinderblock retaining wall had taken most of the impact, and the garage had escaped with a few broken shingles.

The turtle still hadn't moved to catch my attention.

Luck luck luck. First, the little boy standing there without a scratch.  Second, the garage, still standing.  Third, the fact that if he had missed the garage, he would have accelerated for another 100 yards before hitting the next retaining wall, and that would have put him through the windshield.  Fourth, Boatie's built like a tank, and her bumper was at the right height to take most of the impact with the wall.  Oh, and fifth, the turtle, who we put on the hood for the picture but took into some tall grass right after, was fine.

Some rubber, a new fender, maybe a bumper, but the hood, grill, and even the headlight was fine.

Lucky.  Blessed.  However you want to think of it, we are recipients of it all the time.