Long car rides with your family can go two directions. If you have never been on a long car ride with your family you should know sometimes they can go well and you can have a fun time. Other times they can turn into a disastrous manner. This is about one of those disastrous times.

It was a dark, hazy night, and my mom and dad were at the vet with our dog. When they returned they didn’t have her, and she had passed away. It felt so weird having the first death of a pet. It felt as if I was impaled with a sharp object, but with no pain, just the shock.  Of course, since she passed away my mom started looking for a new dog the next couple of days. After days of searching she finally found one. She was a chocolate lab, and she was very small and cute. But of course my brother had a problem with it because we have basically only had labs. That is where the first argument started. My brother whined about having to get a lab, but I didn’t mind because it was cute, and there wasn’t really any other choice.  Although my younger brother was annoyed, he still was happy and grateful we were getting a new puppy.

When I got there we all got in the car and started our three hour drive. Only about five minutes passed before something else started. My brother had asked my mom what we might name the new puppy. My mom said Charlotte, but we would call her Charlie. The only person who wanted to name her that was my mom. I didn’t really like it much either, but I didn’t complain. I couldn’t be complaining about it because we were getting a dog. And I know if I had said something I might get in trouble or start something I didn’t want to start. My sister was probably the most annoyed because she wanted to name her Princess or Chocolate (she was only three). And my brother just said that was a bad name. After my sister bickered like a dog yapping at its owner, we ended up keeping my mom's choice and moved on. 

It was calm like the breeze in an autumn morning for about an hour until another tragedy had struck the car. We had stopped at a place for food because we were all hungry since we had been in the car for two hours. We all had asked for something, and my dad had gone in to get the stuff. When he returned he did not have one of my sister's things. He offered to go back in for it, but she had already started whining about it. She dramatically started babbling about her stuff, so my dad just went in and got it for her. Well my dad went back, and my mom asked her why she was so upset about it, and my sister couldn’t even answer because she was doing it for no reason. When my dad came back she was finally calm and we could go back and start driving again.

          I started to think it was going to be an acceptably good car ride because the two fights that had happened were not very drastic. They seemed worse at the moment, but I started to think they were not a big deal; I think they slowly built up to the biggest argument.

We were almost to our destination before it had happened. My mom checked her wallet, and we had completely forgotten to get the money for the dog. I didn’t know how to react. We had been in an aggravated car for three hours just to find out we forgot to withdraw money from the bank. My baby sister had started to cry, and my dad was obviously very angry; he was a teapot squealing with steam gushing out of it. My sister was crying and acted as if she was a sad thundercloud floating sorrowfully through the sky, and my brother just sounded very annoyed. My dad was yelling at everyone, and everyone was just fighting with each other now. It was a disaster. My mom gave everyone hope as she found an atm and went in to try to get the money. But the hope she had given quickly turned to despair as she came out without anything and said it wouldn’t let her take anything out.

          We rapidly started going around this random town and its atms. After going to a bunch of atms, arguing the whole time, we finally stopped, and my mom called her bank. After what seemed like years of being on hold, someone finally spoke. They told us there was nothing they could do. My mom told the person the situation we were in, and then they put us on hold for what seemed like years. After another long time of waiting and everyone being in a bad mood, they finally came back and said to wait a little and we could use it. Everyone was elated. We got the money and went and got the dog. No one fought on the way back, and everyone seemed happy and content. 

Long car rides with your family can be a great experience or a bad experience. The car could feel like you're in an erupting volcano when arguing with your family, but they could also feel very good. When they go bad it’s not the end of the world. They can always get better, so if you're ever having a bad car ride with your family or really anything like this situation, you should know that it will get better; don’t give up or be upset. Things like this happen, and you can grow and learn from good and bad experiences.

 

 

 

 

-Aiden G.