Private Taxi Service

It is amazing how many places there are to go. We drive our two little girls to the sitter in the morning, drive our teenage daughter to school and drive to work. After work we pick everyone up. Then there is a stop at the bank, library, grocery store and chiropractor on a weekly basis, if not more often. Every Saturday morning, the teenager goes to clinicals for a nursing assistant class. At 6:45am, I load the sleeping little girls into carseats and drive her about 10 miles each direction, returning at noon to retrieve her. Then there is the "can you take me to the movie theater/mall/friend's house" during the week. Yesterday we drove an hour to pick up our son who wanted to come home for a visit. The first question he asked was could he use our car during the day to visit friends. On a typical day, I get off work at 4pm, and I'm really lucky if I get in my front door before 6... and I only work 3 miles away. I've considered asking my oldest daughter to ride the public bus, as we have a wonderful transit system, but she is adamantly opposed to the idea. I don't blame her, really. My son on the other hand loves riding the bus and will often use that option when he can't borrow the car.

I could take all this taxi service and get frustrated, but some of our great conversations happen in the car. Boo will look out the window and count basketball hoops. "Everybody gots a basketball hoop mom!" As we drive back home Saturday mornings, we count flags. Boo loves flags and is always on the lookout. "A flag! A flag! LOOK A FLAG!!". Sometimes we pretend to be the Gnome Mobile, and sometimes we just pretend. The other day Boo wanted daddy to be a dog. When he started talking, she reminded him that dogs don't talk. He then answered her questions by barking, but she couldn't understand what he was saying, so she told him to quit talking doggy. We have spent hours and miles singing songs and laughing.

My older children and I have had wonderful conversations in the car. I've made midnight runs to my husband's work to bring him dinner or something he forgot. My oldest son would always go with me. The best heartfelt conversations were had in the car. He would open up and talk about things I never could have got him to talk about if we had been at home, like girlfriends, sex, smoking, school, and his future. My teenage daughter will even ask, "Can we go for a ride? I need to talk to you."

When I think of how much gas we use in a week, and the miles we put on the car each month, I tend to get a little frustrated that I am always on the go. There are times I wish I could come straight home from work and just stay home. The moments I spend in the car add up to hours a day, but those hours can be priceless.