One of the things I’m starting to get used to is living in a city, and strangely enough, living without a car.
I’ve had my 2003 Purple Toyota Camry (affectionately known as the Cam Cam from here on out) since I started driving. Well, honestly, before I started driving. She sat patiently in my driveway waiting for my 16.5 birthday so that I could get my license and drive her every day.
Since then, she’s been with me all the time. Even when I couldn’t bring a car to college, I managed to bring her to school and park her at a friend’s house. I’ve taken many a road trip, gotten pulled over (only once! Knock on wood) and have had quite a few dance parties with the Cam Cam.
Now that I’m a city girl, having a car just doesn’t seem necessary. Taking public transportation to work is a breeze, unless of course when I’m running after it, and my only real needs for a car are to go home for the holidays (where I can carpool with my sister, friends in the area, or take public transportation) or to take the occasional awesome trip to Target.
While I might join ZipCar to satiate my love for Target and for weekend trips home, it will still be strange not to have the Cam Cam.
For most suburbanites, having a car is the key to freedom, the ability to leave the house on your own accord. While I’ll still have that freedom, it is strange to think going places will be without that same companion, and instead on the unreliable form of transportation known as the MBTA. It is not the lack of options for getting places that worries me, but the realization that I will no longer have this car that has been a part of my life.
Though clearly inanimate, it is not outrageous for people to become attached to their cars. The Cam Cam has been like an old friend to me, a concrete object in my ever-changing life, and now I am trying to live without her. Do note, that the Cam Cam is not gone forever. She sits in my parents driveway just like when I was 16, waiting to see if she will have a new owner (I’d imagine this would go something like Toy Story 3), or if she’ll get to come out to the city with me.
Were you attached to your first car? What was it like to give him/her up?
I think work is a common link between people so we just habitually ask, ‘what do you do?’ but it can be an uncomfortable subject for those who are looking for work. It’s just something to talk about, after asking someone’s name as it’s not too intrusive and can be an opening to other subject matter. I don’t know, I usually ask if people have lived in the area/city long or all their lives.
Just found your blog through the Twittersphere! 🙂 (@hoggerandco)
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