My Husband and Cars

I really like my husband, I mean really, really. And he just quit commuting. So I'm thinking about my dear, delightful man and the automobile.

When we moved to Fort Worth, Jason's job was driving; he drove to Weatherford and north Dallas and all sorts of places. He drove and he drove and he drove. When we moved to Vermont, he was suddenly able to walk to work, and we noticed immediately how very nice it was that he did not have to drive so much. Then, there were a couple more moves and much longer commutes, and that seemed to work pretty well too. Now, his drive to work could be by bicycle or about a ten minute drive. He is so very happy.

Suddenly, he is giving some sort of cooking lesson almost daily to one child or another; he built a chicken tractor in under two weeks; he makes jokes at dinner and at breakfast. We both really think it's related to not driving so far to work. It also helps that he is home so many more hours of the day, partly because of the shorter commute and also because of the nature of the job.

His change in attitude makes me wonder about my own parents and their very long commutes when we were little. Then there are all the people who spend untold amounts of time in the car not just going back and forth to work, but also to go to the shopping complex or entertainment land. I wonder how our lives are impacted by the hours we spend in the car.