One Car

The Girls Celebrate National Pink Flamingo Day  

We have sold Grant's beater with 1 day to spare before his birthday and having to pay for another year's registration. The ad read:

        "For Sale: 2007 Honda Civic
         180k miles, runs well
         No AC, power steering leaks
         Passenger door cannot be opened or fixed
         $1,000 or best offer."

We shed no tears when a person handed over $850 and drove away with the car and title.

Then:
We have always had her car and his car. I drive my car. I like my car. I do not share my car.  Since Grant commuted 350 miles every week, I did the family driving on the weekends. When we went on driving trips, we took my car because it was always the nicer car, and I drove. I like driving.Our children assumed that moms did the driving. One of them once remarked, "Look, there's a daddy that can drive."

Now:
We have our (formerly my) car. This will be an opportunity for me to learn to share and for me to learn to ride while someone else drives. To that end, we've decided that we will share the driving equally, mile for mile. Today I drove to the turnpike plaza where we met our daughter to pick up our granddaughter to visit for the next couple of weeks. Old habits die hard, so even though Grant was to drive home, he automatically got in the passenger's side.

In a way, it is exciting to try this experiment of 1 car. And it is reinforcing that we will not be paying insurance, gas, repairs, and registration on 2 cars. And I can learn to relax while someone else drives. It will be a good thing. It will.