My wife and I pulled into a parking spot at a fast food restaurant a few weeks ago. There was an empty space to our right and another empty space in front of that one. Just as I was about to get out, my wife said “It’s going to hit us!” I felt a bump and saw a car proceeding forward through the empty space and leaving the scene. I recognized the make and model of the car and my wife took down the license plate number.We were on our way to a little celebration later that evening, the damage was just a couple of scratches on the door, so I didn’t report the accident right away.

I was looking in the other direction and didn’t see the beginning of this incident. Since I saw the other car moving forward, I assumed that the car had come from behind and bumped us as it attempted to pull into the space beside us. I assumed that I had all the information needed and later filed a hit and run report with the police and a claim with the insurance company.

Last night over supper, my wife informed me that the other car was attempting to back into the parking space, evidently felt the bump, changed direction and left. We hadn’t really talked about the accideent before, we had other things on our mind that evening. We just looked at the door, saw that there was no major damage and proceeded with our plans for the evening.

I realize now that my wife saw the whole thing happen and I didn’t. My mind just filled in what seemed to be the most likely sequence of events. My wife assumed that I had seen what she had seen. As soon as she filled in the missing detail, which I hadn’t even realized was missing, everything made a lot more sense.

This got me to wondering — how many misunderstandings and arguments are the result of one person not having all the information, yet being absolutely positive that he does?