The Plunge

Okay, I took the plunge and bought a car this week.

I was principled about not owning a car. I rationalized that I didn't drive enough to need to own one, I didn't want to contribute to the degradation of our environment, I didn't want the hassle of taking care of a car.

At the same time, I also said things like, I don't drive much so what's the difference whether I own a car or not - I don't contribute to pollution by owning a car, I would contribute to more pollution if I drove when I don't have to. Owning a car would sure make life a lot more convenient.

At other times, I didn't like having to plan to use a car and always having to return it on time, curbing my spontaneity and sometimes not being able to complete my errands.

Most of all, I had stopped going to pilates because sometimes it took me three hours if I missed the bus connections on Christie. That's one hour to walk there, one hour for the exercise, and one hour to walk home. Every time The Man came home, I rented a car for him to use, and when he left, I returned the car. It's during those times that I felt the greatest discontent: I lose The Man and suffer the inconvenience of being without a car at the same time.

So when I ran into my mechanic last week and he asked if I was still looking for a car, I said, Yes. The swiftness of my affirmative answer came as a bit of a surprise. Immediately, I said to myself, I want an inexpensive car that is reliable, that doesn't attract attention and parking tickets, that has excellent mileage, that I don't have to keep paying through the nose to repair and maintain. Toyota Matrix, I answered myself. So that's what I asked my mechanic for.

The next day, he went to a dealer show and bought me one. The day after that, the car was mine. I went to see the car yesterday. It's is beautiful. I petted it and stroked it and told it to behave well for us, to keep us safe on the road. Then I asked the mechanic to get me snow tires. Monday, I pick up the car.