Monday, April 20, 2009

I hate driving

I used to love driving. In fact, I couldn't get enough of it. I remember how much fun I had just driving around Dallas when living there, and even moving to St. Louis, going on drives was soothing. Now, though, I despise it. I am certain it comes from having lived in New York. When I was there, I enjoyed getting a rental car to drive to my parents', or for whatever reason. It was a novelty. Now, though, when it's an essential part of my life, I cannot handle it anymore.

First of course there's the maintenance. There's the worry of something (else) happening to the car. The fact that if I want to go anywhere other than the DMV or 7-11 from my place, I have to hop in the car. It's an effort that I don't want to exert. In New York, if we needed eggs, it was a quick walk down a single block, and now even though the grocery store is just a mile away, getting in the car makes it seem like another state.

I drove back from New York yesterday. It was the last time I drove up there, and in May I will do this drive one more time, with the truck full of Corbett's belongings. I'm not sad about that, even though I'm sad about not really going up to the city regularly. The problem with this drive is that it just hurts the hell out of my back (I did also have a lot of boxes to bring in from the drive, but really that just made the back issues slightly worse, my back is always sore after driving that much).

I think to my (our) future, and although I don't think it is liikely we'll end up back in NY, I am ready to ensure that wherever we live, the least amount of driving will be required. Here I live close to the campus, but of course on days like today, when I have to head down to JLab, another hour in the car (roundtrip) is required. Sigh.

by Topher at 8:49 AM |