Our little black 2001 Honda Civic died nine days ago. RIP. It chugged along with so few complaints and problems for almost a decade (we bought it used), but it expired ignobly by overheating repeatedly, becoming unfixable. It had seen better days, sure, but it never felt precious — not once did I feel the need to admonish clumsy hands attached to kid bodies for spilling a few morsels/drops of eats and drinks and we gave muddy shoes little thought. It was a no big deal kind of vehicle. Car thieves bypassed it with upturned noses, not even deigning to steal it for parts.
We have been living without a car for nine days. The funny thing is, we’re thinking of going carless for the time being because we’re finding that it’s really not so bad. In fact, I’m walking about 5 miles a day, and my legs feel like pipes of titanium alloy and may even start to look sculpted and svelte if I keep this up. I love walking. Carpool options seem to materialize effortlessly at every turn whenever necessary, and the only area of concern is grocery shopping but I’m looking into delivery services. Even that may not be necessary though, since we live within a mile of two grocery stores. With choices like Über, Lyft and Car2go — not to mention public transportation and cycling, which is M’s favorite mode of transport — we have alternatives to owning a car…it’s tempting. No insurance, no gas or maintenance costs, no putrefying of the environment or adding to the already jammed roadways. We drove less than 8,000 miles a year anyway, so yes. Tempting.
The image is not of our deceased car, obviously, but of my Secret Valentine gift!!!!!! Or at least the unopened gift. I did peek at the beautiful card, but I’ve been a good girl and mentally shackled my hands and feet to avoid tearing into it before Sunday. I’m beyond excited just from the packaging. I’ve used that very same Nani Iro loveliness for a miniature dress, and the fact that she adorned the present with that particular fabric already elates me. Side note: I purposely hadn’t checked who my partner was (Ute and I split the pairing of partners and she did the portion that included my name) and I had unknowingly commented on my partner’s IG sneak peek, “My favorite colors!!” Sonja was probably thinking, “Well, duh…” I’m dying to open it, Sonja!
I will report more fully on the gift and do a general final round-up of the Secret Valentine Exchange soon! Remember, many of the gifts are coming from way yonder so quite a few may not make it to your doorstep by this Sunday. Thank you for your patience, and thank you, thank you, thank you for all the wonderful exchanges we’re already seeing on Instagram with hashtag #2016sve! Our hearts feel full.
I may have no car
But the Secret Valentines
are fuel for goodness
Happy weekend, all!
Your SVE looks very tempting! I am surprised at how many people have such willpower to wait! I am hoping mine will arrive in the mail today, otherwise I guess I will have a nice surprise next week.
I’m so impressed that you are walking so much each day! Yay. A few years ago something bad happened to me on a walk in my neighbourhood and it’s hard to go out on my own again. I need to borrow a dog perhaps, a big one!
Have a lovely weekend and may your Valentine’s Day be rosie or chocolate-y!
Oh Melissa, I’m so sorry that you had a negative experience on your walk. You know, something happened to me when I was walking to the bus stop one morning in middle school (nothing horrific, but it affected me a lot) and I couldn’t walk alone for a long time. A big dog would have helped tons!!
I hope you had the loveliest of Valentine’s Day!! I finally opened my gift from Sonja and it is AMAZING. Fingers crossed that your gift is just about to be delivered 🙂
Poor Civvie! Our ’99 is still chugging along but I fear the day it gives up, although there are certainly benefits to going without! Happy walking – I love getting around on foot, too.
We’re on week three of vehicle-free living, and I don’t miss our little Civvie much. This has been a pleasant surprise, but I do think eventually we’ll have to cave and get a car. I hope your car keeps on keeping on, Morgan! Some Hondas seem to last forever!
We lived without a car for 8 or so years and it was totally doable, even through the first years of 2 babies. You make different choices but their are lots of other options in Seattle. We saved a ton of money and got lots of exercise. We have a loaner car right now and since moving to a less central part of the city, I’m not sure we can do without at this point.
That’s so cool, Jill! I was thinking back too and realized that the reason this feels pretty normal to me is because I’ve spent so many years in the past without a car. I lived in Japan, San Francisco and the first 5 years of Seattle without a car — in total, over 10 years! But you’re right, once you get used to driving, the convenience is pretty hard to let go. Must think about this some more…
That fabric is soooo lovely. Well done on waiting, looking forward to learning the contents! And kudos to getting stuff done without a car. We are a one car family (of the Honda variety as well, so dependable) as well though I hope to bike to work come spring. Its kind of nice to be forced to find alternatives.
I’ll be going more in-depth with the gifts I received soon – they’re amazing!! Biking to work sounds like a fabulous idea, Laura! My husband loves his bike so much, I think he would have a nervous breakdown if he couldn’t ride it daily. 🙂