If you read Funny about Money all the time, you know my honored son made off with my car some weeks ago. Purloined it right out of the garage, and stole the keys that go with it. 😀
Did he think this would create some lesson-building entrée into my life?
Hevvin only knows. Minds, I do not read.
But I’ll tellya, it has taught me a lesson: a very important lesson. And that is…HANG ONTO YOUR HAT!… as a resident of a major Southwestern American city, forhevvinsake I don’t need a car!
Got that? And can you believe it?
Four or six weeks ago, I wouldn’t have believed it: not on your life!
But now, today, after several marvelously car-free weeks, I’ve come to exactly that conclusion: I don’t need a car!
And in fact, it’s very probable that any one of us who lives in a major American metropolis does not need a car!
Can you imagine? Two or three months ago, I sure couldn’t have.
Now, it’s true: when my mother and I lived in San Francisco, we did have my father’s beloved sedan at hand. But we regarded it not as our car but as his car. It resided several stories down in an underground parking garage. My mother would get it out when she and I wanted to traipse across the Bay to our relatives’ house in Berkeley: maybe once every two or three weeks. But otherwise: it just sat in there while he was off at sea.
When his ship came into port, she would retrieve his Chrysler, fill up the gas tank, and off we would go to pick him up at whatever dock his ship came into. But otherwise? The thing just sat there.
And now, here in Lovely Uptown Phoenix, I find I need a car even less than she and I did Back in the Day. No kidding:
- Three major grocery stores within easy walking distance
- A hair stylist about four blocks down the road.
- A veterinarian right next door to the stylist’s salon.
- Two major computer stores in the cluster that houses the grocers.
- A lawyer a few blocks to the north.
- A doctor’s office to the south
- Two accountants straight across the street from me.
- An Uber driver next-door to the accountants’ place….
Seriously: it goes on and on. I don’t need a car! If, by some fluke, I should need the services of a business or professional who’s not within walking distance, all I have to do is call one of the Uber drivers who live here in the ‘Hood.