I Pad - I Don'ts

Don't put your iPad on top of your car. Ever.

Last September Ben called me in a panic in the wee hours of the morning (okay, it was probably only 6 am, but it was still dark, so that constitutes wee to me). He could not find his iPad . . . his brand new, purchased by his district, iPad. He thought he might have driven off with it on the roof of his car and begged me to drive around town looking for it. I obliged but didn't find anything. Well, that is until it was finally light out. Then I drove again and found said iPad upside down in the far left lane on the major Parkway near out house. I ran into traffic in my pajamas like a lunatic. I was so excited at first, amazed I'd found it. Then my excitement was crushed when, upon flipping it over I saw the damage. See above. It was demolished. Ben felt so dumb and apologetically explained his predicament to the person at his work responsible for technology purchases. Fortunately for us, the iPad could be replaced. Phew. Sigh of relief.

Until . . . one tired, stressed out moment with screaming frazzled children in toe, Ben repeated the same mistake as described above. He put his iPad on the roof of the van as he loaded the kids in the car to take Eli to church for Scouts. Later in the evening, Ben was frantic, searching for his iPad. I laughed watching him search around the house, sure it must be "around here somewhere." When I finally looked up to see the anguish on his face, I offered to drive with him to see if he had in fact left iPad #2 on top of the car. Sadly, we found the bless-ed thing in the exact same spot, in the exact same lane, of the exact same Parkway as I had found the original iPad. This time, however, the screen was intact. Together we heaved a sigh of relief. My heart was aching for Ben, knowing how awful he felt. And while the usual nagging wife, berating words ran through my head, I managed to hold my tongue and only offer words of encouragement.

In the end, the iPad was damaged severely. To the tune of $475. We agreed we had to cough up the funds to fix it. Ben called Apple to arrange for the repairs, then took his iPad into our friendly neighborhood Apple Store where, they replaced his iPad for free. What!? That's what I said too. We don't know why. Or how. We only know that the little geeky Apple Store clerk was amazed, baffled, and curious that the iPad could be so badly damaged without the screen being broken. According to Ben, he showed it to virtually every employee in the store before he returned to Ben and said "We can get you a new one to take home now." Ben said great, asked about the charges, and the guy (who's going straight to heaven in my book) said there would be no charge, and the repair charges Ben authorized over the phone would time out in the system when the repair department didn't receive the damaged iPad in the mail. "We're not going to send the broken one in," he said. I questioned Ben up and down about why on earth they would do that. Ben said he wasn't going to stand around asking questions when they were offering him a replacement for free. I guess I can't argue there, although I guarantee that if I had been there, we'd have more answers! I'm imagining they must have a wall in the back of the Pleasanton Apple Store lined with broken iPads, each with a story of their own. The receipt Ben got said "iPad run over by car, car won."

Crazy. Remarkable. Astonishing. Again, a HUGE sigh of relief.

FYI, I don't tell this story to embarrass my husband, but to document all the amazing tales of our crazy lives. I share with permission. I'm sure this story will bring laughs and laughs for years to come. At least I hope so. And as long as we never again drive with the iPad on top of the car.