Matt and I have been sharing one car since...I can't remember what day or month the little VW bug decided it wanted to quit halfway home and had to be towed, (by us with tow straps!) back to the driveway. Sad, sad, little car. Grumpy, grumpy little mama. Taking him to work was not the hard part, it's the picking him up, at 5:30pm when the baby is hungry and very grumpy and dinner is in some stage near completion and then must be planned ahead and already doing it's thing in the crock pot, finished up, or left to cook in the (gas) oven in hopes that nothing will go wrong on the trip to pick him up and I won't come home to a burning house or a burnt dinner. It's a precarious dance and I seem to have two left feet! But I digress. The point I was getting to was that I send Matt off in our only car every day to avoid the inconvenience of dinner time disasters (and to save on gas!) and then I complain about how I am stuck at home.
Reality set in last night when I was reading Anne of Avonlea (my book club did Anne of Green Gables for December and I couldn't just stop with that one!) and they walked 4 miles (one way) to a friend's house for afternoon tea. And then had to walk back home! In dresses(!), and high heel boots(!!), through the woods (!!!), IN CANADA (!!!!). What have I got to complain about? The grocery store is 1.9 miles away, the park is less than 1 mile (and they have a pool open in the summer!), the East branch of the Library is 2.1 miles. Totally doable! I have plenty of friends who live within 2 miles of me. And I can walk 2 miles in just over half an hour, even while pushing a stroller. I've got pavement, and, best of all, sneakers!! It is a balmy 56 degrees outside (as opposed to current P.E. Island - where the Anne books are set, temp of 27 degrees).
So I'm making this one small change in my life. If I am invited somewhere and it is within 2 miles of my house, rather than using all that extra time and gas to take Matt to work so I can have the car, I will walk. We started today with a trip to visit friends who live 1.6 miles from my house. It took 29 minutes one way, with several stops to adjust baby hats and mittens. I got an hour's worth of brisk exercise in, a great visit with a friend, a fun playdate for Cora, and a big dose of vitamin D when the sun came out for our return journey. No, the dishes and laundry didn't get done, but sometimes housework has to suffer for the sake of sanity.
P.S. In case you were looking for Friday's late post on Sunday, I decided to let past Fridays be past Fridays and start fresh today. And perhaps the circumference of that chubby thigh you see in the photo will be diminished by this change as well!
6 comments:
I'm right there with ya, sis. We were at one car for 6 weeks over Christmas, and a couple of months before that, for about 2 weeks. I live 1/4 mile from two different parks, and 1/2 mile from the grocery store. It's totally doable. Although when it was in the teens here for almost 2 weeks, we didn't get out much.
Odd, though, how people get worried about another person walking somewhere. I had a sweet old lady offer me a ride, and two of my neighbors said they were sorry I had to walk and just let them know if I needed a ride! That was nice, but it's just a mile round trip. I've found if my dog is with me people think it's okay to walk. Ha!
inspiring. it is true-we live so close to so many things. i need to get out more too...
Yes, very inspiring! Thanks for the post.
first of all, thats no SMALL change! thats wonderful and huge! i think that will be such a great thing to help with regular exercise and the added benefit of much needed vitamin d! congrats!!!! what an encouragement!
How far are we from you? Is there a worthy half way point?I'd meet up with you if there is. Or we could meet up at Gallatin and go from there.
woohoo! I'm trying to get more into walking too, or get back into my Chicago-walking style, though I realize I havent been a stellar walking partner to ya. hopefully that will continue to change.
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