Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Last night DH and I left the house (we live in the top of a large two family) to go food shopping. At the same time, a young man in a beautiful H3 Hummer pulls up to take out the eldest daughter of our landlord who is a senior in High School. I saw a college parking sticker for Hofstra on a side window. He looked to be about the age of a freshman at most.

My thoughts:

1) The car is his parents' car.
2) The car is his car and given to him because he didn't go away to school.
3) The kid had a paper route in a very high-income area and saved REALLY well.
4) The kid struck oil when he was trying to dig to China as we all have tried in our lifetimes.

I looked at DH in our lil CR-V and said "Where did we go wrong?"

I think he thought we were the girl's parents (actually, we are old enough to be her parents) as he was rather polite and may have called DH "sir". I suppose he could have been afraid of DH. DH has a rather imposing physique (like a bouncer) and offers to be the strong-arm to fend away undesirable suitors for my landlord's THREE gorgeous teenaged daughters.

Ah to be young, rich and in love

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

And let's hope the only contact he had with a Hummer was his car.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Posted by nrthshgrl

And let's hope the only contact he had with a Hummer was his car.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Well if it makes you feel any better I went to school with TONS of kids who drove brand new Mercedes and BMW's around before highschool graduation.

I was always jealous until one day a guy I sorta kinda knew pulled up in a brand new fully loaded Audi.

I made some sort of joke about him being a spoiled only child.... and boy was I put in my place

Turns out his father passed away a few years before. One of his wishes on his death bed to his brother was that his son always be taken care of, and for his highschool graduation gift to be given a really nice car, since that is something he planned on doing for his son since the day he was born. His parents had never finished highschool and he wanted his son to know how proud he was of him

Message edited 4/28/2007 12:23:03 PM.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Posted by SHOPAHOLIC
I was always jealous until one day a guy I sorta kinda knew pulled up in a brand new fully loaded Audi.

I made some sort of joke about him being a spoiled only child.... and boy was I put in my place

Turns out his father passed away a few years before. One of his wishes on his death bed to his brother was that his son always be taken care of, and for his highschool graduation gift to be given a really nice car, since that is something he planned on doing for his son since the day he was born. His parents had never finished highschool and he wanted his son to know how proud he was of him

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

I honestly didnt even think about that possibility. Promises are golden and important to keep.

I have to say that I went to a high school where the kids drove expensive cars too. My parents were financially set and did just as well as the parents of the Mercedes driving kids. I drove an Oldsmobile station wagon my senior year. New cars were not options for me and my siblings because we were going away to schools that did not permit freshmen to have cars. A new car would have sat on a driveway at home - never to be driven. It simply wasn't practical. We were fine with driving whatever we had access to and did not feel slighted in the least.

I envy those who can provide a good life for their children. I hope I am able to do the same for mine someday.

Message edited 4/28/2007 12:33:19 PM.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

OMG that is toooo freakin funny!

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Where/when I grew up, you worked and scrimped and saved to buy the biggest, ugliest POS you could afford.

It was a rite of passage to get that first clunker yourself. None of my friends had new cars. Although a lot of the guys in school liked to buy heavy metal and fix them up in auto shop.

My first car was a 12 year old full size GMC Jimmy that was three colors, including the brown rusty spots. The passenger door didn't open, the gas guage didn't work, and it had 110,000 miles when I got it.

And I was damn proud to drive it because I paid for it myself.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Posted by greenfreak

Where/when I grew up, you worked and scrimped and saved to buy the biggest, ugliest POS you could afford.

It was a rite of passage to get that first clunker yourself. None of my friends had new cars. Although a lot of the guys in school liked to buy heavy metal and fix them up in auto shop.

My first car was a 12 year old full size GMC Jimmy that was three colors, including the brown rusty spots. The passenger door didn't open, the gas guage didn't work, and it had 110,000 miles when I got it.

And I was damn proud to drive it because I paid for it myself.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Message edited 4/28/2007 7:21:05 PM.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

Posted by greenfreak

Where/when I grew up, you worked and scrimped and saved to buy the biggest, ugliest POS you could afford.

It was a rite of passage to get that first clunker yourself. None of my friends had new cars. Although a lot of the guys in school liked to buy heavy metal and fix them up in auto shop.

My first car was a 12 year old full size GMC Jimmy that was three colors, including the brown rusty spots. The passenger door didn't open, the gas guage didn't work, and it had 110,000 miles when I got it.

And I was damn proud to drive it because I paid for it myself.

Re: Where did we go wrong? Silly anecdotal story.

I went to HS with so many kids that had luxury cars...one girl got a new car each year of HS..it was disgusting.

my friend works in a HS and one of the students just totalled her brand new BMW...the accident was her fault...Daddy was so mad at her, that he bought her a brand new Lexus