I picked up J in the truck today at school and pulled in behind this guy.  He was parked a little off in his big truck, so I had to pull in tight so I wasn’t blocking the school bus lane.  Well I guess, in my perfect parkingness, I pulled in just a little too close and touched his bumper. And I mean barely touched.  A piece of paper could have possibly slid through.  If anything my license plate was touching his trailer hitch.

I saw him looking at the two trucks, so I took a look, apologized profusely and put the kids in.  I then backed up so we could take a look.   One good thing about winter is that the salt and sand that sticks to your cars in the winter lets you know for sure if you touched someones car.  Well, there was not a scratch in the dirt, not a mark.  And if one of us so much as touches the car with our arm or leg, you see it.  No mistake about it.

I look at it, no mark.  He says fine and wants to walk away, but I encourage him to look so there is no mistake.  He agrees, no mark.

And just to be clear, I didn’t bump him, just happened to stop at the right spot.  Or wrong spot against his truck.  We agree, nothing.  I apologize again and start to go.  Then, he licks his finger and starts wiping off the dirt!  Uh, hello.  If there is no mark on the dirt anything underneath is not mine.  He sees a teeny tiny scratch but says we will forget about it.  So I laugh and say, well that wasn’t from me under all that dirt.  But, somehow I know he doesn’t believe me.  Not only that but the mark is up higher than my license plate cover.  But, somehow, three hours later, I still feel terrible that I touched his car.  Something I have never, ever done before in public ( I will admit to bumping Hubby’s car at our old house, but we just barely fit two cars in the driveway and he used to not park close enough to the house).

Here’s hoping that I won’t feel guilty every single day picking up J at school.  I know in my heart I did not mark his peeling bumper (yes it was peeling at the corner) but, that part of me that feels guilty that I touched it at all is eating me away.