When you’re prone to exaggeration, it’s no surprise that occasionally people might get the wrong idea about you. I’m definitely someone who exaggerates when I’m telling a story, but I never realized how much I do it until recently.
A few months ago, one of my co-workers blogged about a comment I had made. I said I crash my car a lot. That’s an exaggeration. In reality, I have been in two accidents in my driving history. The last of which occurred when I was 19. Sure, there were a few times I slid off the road on an icy day, but (if you don’t count my driveway) even that hasn’t happened in at least seven years.
Unfortunately, those incidents are still fresh in my mind, so I occasionally discuss those incidents in a slightly exaggerated way and people think I destroy more cars than a monster truck rally.
Apparently the comment stuck with her, because not only did she laugh about it (a lot) at the time, she thought it was so funny that she should share it with others, which is fine. It probably did sound amusing, but it made me start to wonder if my exaggeration wasn’t a bit over the top.
The blog wasn’t my only clue that there might be a problem. During last week’s bout of bad weather, another co-worker mentioned that he parks on the opposite side of the parking lot when the weather starts to turn because he is afraid I’m going to hit his car. For the record, I have never hit a parked car in my life. I have, however, hit a deer and slid off of a very slippery back road in Otselic. But both of these incidents occurred within three years of getting my license, and the people who responded to the scene assured me that I crashed the car very well.
I know that several of my non-immediate relatives who have heard my stories believe that I should never drive over back roads in winter. They aren’t around to see me on a regular basis, but when I visit they always ask what route I took and comment on whether or not someone is home to pull me out of the ditch, should the need arise.
After repeating my slightly exaggerated story so many times, I’m afraid frightened parents are going to see me driving by and feel the need to grab their children and race for the house, and I promise, the situation is not that dire.
It’s time to set the record straight. I’m not the best driver in the world, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the worst, either. I would say I’m somewhere in the middle, but if you’ve heard me say anything else, it’s probably an exaggeration.