Relying on Others

One change I've had to make this year that I'm not fond of, is relying on others to get to and from work.

We have been a one car household for about 9 years. When The Boy™'s car finally stopped working, it made sense for him to just start driving mine, because I was working down the street at the elementary school, and was walking to and from work each day. A few years later when that car finally died we just replaced it. We haven't had a need to replace it, or have been able to afford it since. Until now. Our van, however, is 9 years old. I'd say it has 2, maybe 3 more good years left on it if we are lucky. My man drives his vehicles hard. We replace brakes every 2 years and tires every 2 or 3. If we were to get a car loan now, we would have to replace the van before the first loan was paid off, and we couldn't afford to have two loans at the same time. We are both in education, it's just a fact of life.

My neighbor diagonally across the way was relocated to my new school for half a day in the mornings this year. I ride into work with her. 3 out of the 5 days of the week she has to be there half an hour early for meetings. Getting home means I have to rely on others who are headed through my town on their way home. 2 days I ride with the art teachers, 3 days I ride with the music teacher. Right now he is teaching steel drums on Wednesdays and leaves early. No one is at school that day who heads through my town, so The Boy™ is leaving work early and coming to pick me up. I love that, but I also feel bad for disrupting his day.

I feel like I'm imposing on all of these people and I hate it. I know they don't mind, because they've all told me. I thank them all every day, and they tell me it's no problem, or it's no bother, but I want them to know that I truly appreciate it, because I do. Without them I would be stuck. It would take me about an hour to bike there and it's all uphill.