When someone stole my dad's car

I've always been close with my family. My mom has always been my best friend. I am the world's biggest daddy's girl. My brother's pretty cool, too. I guess. Because I'm so close to them, I never really strayed far from home. I went to college only 30 minutes away from home and went home almost every weekend.

Going from seeing my family all the time to never getting to see them is hard. And this week I have been missing my daddy like crazy.

My all time favorite story about my dad concerns the time his car was "stolen."

My freshman year of college I was working at the college's Computer Help Desk. One day while at work, I got a call from my mom. This was the conversation:

Me: Mom, I'm at work.

Mom: Your dad's car was stolen.

Me: What?!? (Side note: no one in their right mind would steal my dad's car. it's one of those ugly little trackers)

Mom: Yea, someone stole his car from the Walmart parking lot.

Me: *fall into a fit of giggles*

Mom: This is serious. I need you to go pick your dad up.

Me: I'm working.

Mom: So am I. Fine, see if Garrett can do it.

So I called up the hubs, who at that time was the lowly bf. Luckily, he was not working and could pick up my dad, who was not at the local Walmart. Nope, my dad wanted to be adventurous and try the really big Walmart a few towns over.

I went back to work, pondering why the hell someone would steal my dad's crap car. I don't know anything about chop shops or anything like that, but I was pretty sure the parts weren't really worth much. It barely ran.

A half an hour later I get a call from Garrett who is laughing so hysterically, I can't even understand him. He finally gets out that I should call my dad.

So I did. And here is that conversation:

Me: Hey dad, is everything okay?

Dad: It's fine. Everything is fine.

Me: Oh.....I thought your car was stolen.

Dad: About that...

Me: Did the police find it?

Dad: Yes.

Me: Well, where was it?

Dad: ............the other end of the parking lot.

Turns out, this giant Walmart had two entrances, which my dad didn't notice. He is prone to forgetting where he parked so he parked right in front of the entrance he saw. After he finished shopping, he exited and didn't see his car. He searched but couldn't find it and ended up calling the police. Only to have the police find his car in front of the other entrance.

I tell this story every chance I get because A) It's hilarious B) It explains a lot about my ability to lose things and C) I love my Daddy.