car repair

I am hoping that my parents car will be out of the body shop today. My father was in a minor accident over a month ago and the car finally went to get repaired. After waiting for the insurance check they had to wait for an opening in the body shop. It happened when he turned into the street without looking and another car was coming. Luckily speed was not a factor and no one was injured.

We had been trying to come up with a way to get him to stop driving but our gentle suggestions were not working. The day of the accident everything went right for him, and not so much for us.

First, he wanted to leave the scene of the accident because he needed to get in line for senior commodities. My mother convinced him he needed to stay put. If she would have allowed him to drive over the half of block and get in line maybe the officer would have viewed the accident differently. Missed opportunity #1

After handing the officer his registration and licence, he was going to leave again. He thought he was done. Again mom stopped him. According to her, both times took a lot of convincing. This makes missed opportunity #2

We live in a small town so of course everyone knows everyone. The "helpful" Police Officer did not give him a ticket even though it was clearly his fault. Missed opportunity #3

The car has been in the shop for almost two weeks. The original estimate was wrong. They thought it was mainly cosmetic damage, but when they started the work they found the frame was damaged and they needed to order more parts. It has actually been helpful to have the car gone for so long. He has gotten accustomed to me being the chauffeur for Doctor appointments and for grocery shopping. He does get upset thinking the car has been gone for much longer than it should. The Alzheimer's has made time one of the things he has trouble with. Seasons and anything past tomorrow confuse him.

Lets hope when they get the car back he won't argue with my mom about her driving. We have reminded him that he promised his doctor he won't drive since the stroke. He thinks, or in his case he knows, he is invincible.