I got a thumb’s up on the start of my cast drawing. That really puts wind in my sails.
But today, let me tell a bit about life without a car in small town America.
First, people are incredibly kind and generous for the less fortunate. That would be me without a car. Rides to the grocery. A trip to the fabric store. Wonderful. However, with gas prices soaring, kind and generous only goes so far. Add time to that and I can hear some think I should solve my own problems. I think so, too.
So a couple of days ago, I went with a local store owner to his house and drove his mutt of a car back to my apartment. It would not go over 25 mph so, let’s think about getting a transmission. Finding someone to work on this car, this vintage, and obviously bionic, having had many transplants for original organs…not so easy. So I decided not to buy this great girl.
But that aside, the car is now a problem. And that is the point of this monologue. Cars give as many headaches as they cure. Now, the car is parked by my apartment and the landlord wants it moved. Instead of solving my grocery list, it has become my list.
The good of this “should I buy a car” exercise is that it forced me to look at what is the real challenge here. Owning a car is not necessary, even in a town with no public transportation. Walking is healthy and lots less expensive than a treadmill at a gym.
So, my challenge is not how to afford a car but having to reinvent how to get groceries every time I run out of something. Now that I have named my challenge–an easy button for grocery shopping–I can really take action. There are many ways to solve this. I haven’t settled on what I will do yet. But what I know for sure is that buying a car is only one of many ways to deal with getting somewhere.
Namaste, y’all, Wilder
