That last story is hilarious in a really sad way! You must've felt awful! The whole image that story gave me is too funny. Your poor dad though, I wonder how much all those repairs cost.

He just had to replace the windshield, so I think it was more than he would have liked to, but not as much as it could have been. The garage door was actually pretty easy to fix, surprisingly, we worked together on that one. I definitely felt awful, I was pretty sure he'd never let me drive again. But even that didn't stop him from teaching me.

this reminds me...my aunt told me that her mother (my gran) told her daughters, during their engagements, 'it is not a promise until the vows are complete.' An engagement ring is not a contract. Wedding arrangements are not a trap. You can still say no, up until the last second. As it happens, this particular aunt doesn't approve of her daughter's fiance, but she imparted this wisdom to me too, and I agree. Even if your mother had questionable intentions, what she said was true.

My sister in law got married to her now ex-husband, and the parents weren't thrilled with him. They got married and during the daddy-daughter dance her dad said "are you sure you've done the right thing and want to be married to him?" She said yes, but as things went on during the marriage he turned out to be a real bum and extremely selfish. She was working 2 jobs while he stayed home in his jammies all day and worked on his own business (which generated no money) and had the nerve to ask her to get another job even though he watched tv most of the day. He ended up leaving her. Turned out her parents saw what she couldn't see at the time. Sometimes the parents are right in these situations and can see something that we're blind too. Other times they're just wrong and are pushing they're own hang ups with the person onto you and your relationship. Hope it's the latter for you op.