Many Thanks to My Dad

May 8th, 2008

Filed under: Family

I generally have avoided talking about my extended family because I know there are a lot of people out there who do not have close relationships with their parents, but today I have to write about how awesome my dad is and how he saved me some significant money (or at least some major embarrassment).

I had other ideas to write about today, but that was until I locked my keys in my truck this morning. While it was running. With my office key locked in there, too. With me being the first to arrive in the morning. Leaving me standing out in the heavy rain. All in all, a bad morning.

Most days, I neglect to bring my cell phone with me to work. Fortunately, today I remembered it. I would have called my wife, but I knew she was still asleep and would have to wake the baby if she were to come bail me out, so I called my dad and asked him to rescue me with his spare key. You see, my parents live literally just down the street from us - about 8 houses or so. (They moved into our neighborhood and not the other way around…) Since they’re so close, we commonly share the truck for our household needs, so they have a key, too. He happened to be out at breakfast with some men from the church before going to work, so he was able to come help me.

If he hadn’t been available, I would have been forced to decide between calling a locksmith at the cost of at least $50 or standing out in the rain until a co-worker arrived (which ended up being about 30 minutes later) with my truck burning fuel while I waited for my wife to wake and arrive. Either way, it would have been a decent expense, a huge hassle, and an even bigger embarrassment.

My dad’s come to my rescue plenty of times and this just adds to that list. While this has little to do with personal finance, I had to break topic today to give a much-deserved shout-out to my dad.

Thanks, Dad!