My husband came in the front door last night grumbling about having too many cars. He had been out in the street in front of our house talking to some neighbors when he noticed my youngest daughter’s car had a flat tire.

It is true, we have a lot of cars. My youngest daughter just started driving last month and now we have four cars to maintain. But I had to laugh over my husband’s protests. He’s a car guy. We have cars. We don’t just have everyday driving cars, my husband also drives and builds street rods as a hobby. I’ve always thought we had too many cars.

I can’t really get behind his grumblings though, he asked for it. As soon as my oldest daughter turned 16 he was looking for a car for her; constantly surfing Craigslist for cars, dragging me to the computer room, “What about this one? Should we go look at it?”

“No! She is not driving yet, we don’t need an unused car sitting in the driveway until we have someone to use it. Cars cost money, even if they aren’t being used.”

“I could drive it to work until she’s ready. It would get better gas mileage than my truck.”

“No.”

Not that it stopped him from looking.

I never intended on buying my kids cars, most parents don’t. But when my oldest showed no interest in driving and I had to push her into it, my dreams of her taking financial responsibility for a car were dashed.

Now that they have them, I have to admit, I like that my daughters have their own car. It saves me a lot of time and gas; we aren’t running back and forth, they can just drive themselves to a location and drive themselves back, saving us four to six trips.

My youngest daughter took driver’s ed at 15-years old. It turned out she wasn’t emotionally ready to drive, even though she finished and passed all the requirements; so we tabled it until she was closer to 16. But, you guessed it, my husband was searching for cars for her.

This time, however, he approached his search with trepidation. He has had to put a lot of work into the car we bought my oldest. It’s a modest car; a 2002 Saturn with 134,000 miles on it.  Although perfect for a first driver, it has stranded her at college several times.

To me this is no big deal. It was the story of my teen years. We had nine Volkswagens: five were running the rest were for parts. We broke down all the time and had to hoof it to the nearest phone to have dad come rescue us. Now they have cell phones; they don’t even have to walk.

Dads fix cars. In my mind, that’s just what dads are supposed to do; it’s what my dad did.

When it came right down to buying my youngest a car (before she got her license), he switched gears (no pun intended). I needed a bigger family car, so we gave her my 8-year old car and I got a new one. He figured he knew my car and it was still reliable; nothing but routine maintenance. Heh, heh.

You guessed it again; ever since I handed over the keys, he’s been fixing my old car. Now the tire guy has called me and informed me the tire casing is cracked on that flat. If one tire is cracked, chances are the rest are too; the car needs all new tires. I’ll let my husband deal with it when he gets home.

Too many cars, indeed. I thought it was what he always wanted.

Gretchen Leigh is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Covington. She still has a lot of cars. You can also read more of her writing and her daily blog on her website livingwithgleigh.com or on Facebook at “Living with Gleigh.” Her column is available every week atmaplevalleyreporter.com under the Lifestyles section.