Skillz

July 15, 2009 at 6:04 am (Cooking, Daily Criteria, Transportation) (buses, cars)

Generally, when somebody’s not good at something, they try to steer clear of it. 

• Not good at math?  You won’t end up an accountant.  
• Suck at cooking?  Take-out and Stouffers for you. 
• Not crafty?  The need to knit and sew to clothes one’s family went by the wayside, what [thinking through my foggy memory of American history here…], at least a hundred years ago.   Or maybe closer to eighty for the non-well-to-do?  I should ask my grandma.  I’m pretty sure I should know.
• Hate kids?  Don’t have a kid.  Um, well, some people might make some mistakes there.  Most of the time it works out.

BUT, if you lead an average suburban family life (reality check- yes, that’s where I’ve ended up), you will be forced. to. DRIVE AN AUTOMOBILE.  I suck at it.  I hate the expense.  I hate the environmental impact.  But mostly, I just suck at it.  And I can tell you, I’m not alone. 

I’ve tried to explain why I’m a bad driver before, and it never goes well.  Unlike some, I do know the rules I need to play by.  I use my blinker, give the guy on the RIGHT the RIGHT of way.  The best I can say is I get distracted.  I space out and suddenly I’m on the lane bumps.  Or realize (almost) too late that everybody in front of me is stopping.

Short of moving to NYC, I don’t know what to do about it. 

Of course there are many greener options, but how does one make them work with three kids 5 years old and under, 3/4 of a mile from the closest bus stop?  To get to work, I’ve biked, walked, and ran many times.  With kids, walking or busing is the only option.  Back in my days living in Seattle Proper, I loved the bus.  I HATED bus snobs.  If I still lived there, I’d certainly take my kids on it.  But I cannot see how the current bus system in my town would be much use for an outing of, say, dropping off some library books, going on a playdate, and then picking up some groceries on the way home.  As I’m typing this, I’m considering that it could be useful on some outings, though, so I should look into that further.

So, we are left with: a) some use of the bus, b) walking, or c) not going anywhere.  I shouldn’t have to explain why c is not an option.  We can (and have) walked to the grocery store, and a drug store.  That’s about as far as we can manage, and only for “we just need milk and two other things” trips.

There’s gotta be a better way.  What am I missing here?

p.s.  Using the criteria created yesterday:

• uncheck (did zero housework except loading the dishwasher),
• semi-check (picking blueberries counts as fresh air and sunshine, but not aerobic exercise.  Except for the parts where I had to chase GOJ down),
• check (here’s dessert),
• check (picking blueberries),

• check (as far as I know, a day wholly without bandaids)