Forgive me Lefty Radicals, for I have sinned. I know I've sinned before...like the time I went to the co-op and forgot to bring my own cloth grocery bags or the time I bought the chicken that had not led a happy life before being butchered or the time I poisoned the ground water with Roundup because the weeds were trying to eat my children. I've made some mistakes but I have always punished myself for them. Remember the vegan cookies?
This new sin is a big one though: Luisa and I are going to buy a second car and it won't even be a hybrid. I hear the gasps...gasp away. I know about global warming and the war over oil and the problems with consumerism but we are tired, very tired. We have lived the one car life for the past 8 years and we just want things to be simple and easy for awhile.
In my defense, I submit our family's current, one car schedule:
5:00 a.m. Luisa wakes, showers and prepares all of the lunches for the day.
5:30 a.m. Vikki wakes and showers.
5:50 a.m. Luisa leaves home to catch the first of two buses that will take her from south Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul.
6:15 a.m. The children wake and Vikki proceeds to get both dressed, fed and ready for the day.
7:00 a.m. Luisa arrives for work, over one hour after she left the house.
7:35 a.m. Vikki begins to corral both children, assisting them into all of their winter trappings. Vikki then puts them into their car seats and leaves the house.
7:55 a.m. Vikki drops off Miguel at Lake Country School.
8:10 a.m. Vikki drops off Zeca at Child Garden Montessori, leaving the car in the parking lot and catching a bus to downtown Minneapolis.
8:40 a.m. Vikki arrives at work.
3:30 p.m. Luisa leaves work to catch a bus from downtown St. Paul to Child Garden.
4:30 p.m. Luisa arrives at Child Garden Montessori, one hour after she left work, picks up Zeca and the car.
4:50 p.m. Luisa and Zeca arrive at Lake Country to pick up Miguel
5:00 p.m. Vikki leaves work and catches the light rail, going south.
5:20 p.m. Luisa and the children pick up Vikki at the light rail station.
5:30 p.m. Vikki, Luisa and the children arrive back home
This barely works when everything goes as planned. When a child has to be picked up due to illness or school is closed or there are appointments, then I cannot even describe the scheming that is involved. Without Luisa's ability to process every possible schedule, route and transportation option and determine its efficiency, none of this would work at all. I'm the person that once forgot our car downtown and took the bus home because I got confused and forgot that I drove.
We are running ourselves ragged and are ready to give up the advantages of having only one car. I will not enjoy the additional costs of having the second car but what I will hate most is giving up my self-righteousness. I will no longer be able to judge two car families. I will no longer be earning those Karma points for energy conservation. I will no longer be able to shake my head at the Hummers. O.k., I'll still do that but you get the idea.
Oh, how the haughty have fallen.
9 comments:
I didn't realize we were buying a second car - i thought we were just talking about it!
This is why I live within walking distance of my office. My car sits parked on the street for days at a time. You guys are free to borrow it whenever. You can put a child seat in the back. You can even put the top down if you want. It's not a Hummer or an SUV, although it's still a prime example of Conspicuous Consumption.
Now, if I could just figure out a way to commute to DC with our single car...we would be set!
my question is, what will happen to kristin and brian when we come back from brazil and reclaim our beater? they keep saying they're never going to give it back. will they buy a second car? will they steal ours? will they steal yours?
Susan Raffo - Yes, you see the dilemna. Luckily the Light at the End of the Tunnel is coming June 19. From April 19 until then, I will likely be 2 hours late to work on Tuesday and Wednesdays and I might ask you for a ride once in a while.
Susan Raffo - Yes, you see the dilemna. Luckily the Light at the End of the Tunnel is coming June 19. From April 19 until then, I will likely be 2 hours late to work on Tuesday and Wednesdays and I might ask you for a ride once in a while.
Vikki - 1) you once forgot your car downtown?
2) Hybrids don't provide that much more fuel efficiency for the cost (unless you are buying a Hummer, and since we have established that you would have to move out of Powderhorn if you ever did that, we can assume that you won't)
3) Go for it
4) You once bought a factory chicken? Gasp gasp.
I love Luisa's comment.
The Focus rules.
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