I hate to sound like I'm whining, but I have discovered that it is very difficult to get by these days with a family and just one perfectly operational vehicle. Well, I suppose I could say one operational driver, but that wouldn't make sense to anyone but me.

Even as I read these words, they ring as nearly ridiculous in my ears, but it has been quite a hardship the past two weeks for me to try and juggle all the ‘taxi' work with the actual job that I am paid to accomplish. Now, I'd better clarify these statements a little better. Our family actually owns two cars and a pickup truck, so we are actually quite blessed in the automotive department.

However, as I mentioned last week, the truck's starter acted up on me in the driveway. Oddly enough, after I ordered a new starter using my faithful handy-dandy credit card, the truck has been starting perfectly every time I've turned the key. See, it just needed me to spend nearly $300 so that it would know that I really care.

Even though I started it up to take the trash to the dump and again to drive to work one day when it was snowy, I still keep expecting it not to start. Therefore, when I park, I've been placing it judiciously on hillsides as best I can so that I can get a rolling start if needed.

You see, the truck and the remaining car, both made in the mid 1990s, are manual transmission models. In my house, there is one driver who can operate a manual transmission, or a stick-shift, if you will. That person just happens to be me.

The family sedan is an automatic. However, it isn't at the house.

The solution, you might say, is that the other driver learn to operate a manual transmission, to which I might offer you the opportunity to be the instructor. Few things cause more strife in a marriage than trying to teach a spouse to drive a straight. It usually starts off well, with calm instructions like, "Now push the little pedal and let it out slow." It usually ends with, "What in the heck are you trying to do, kill us all? Are you crazy?" These episodes are then later followed by comments on how husbands are obtuse creatures with little sympathy and understanding and how certain female persons will never again try to drive a straight. Of course, the male person also often notes that she needn't worry, he'll never again try to teach her, either.

After at least three or four of these failed exercises, the ‘never again' part starts to sink in.

I'm quite sure that anyone would be much better suited teaching someone else's spouse to drive. It's curious how that works, isn't it?

As for the problem of having one car, I have one child who goes to school at 8 a.m., another needs to go to school at 8:30 a.m. I need to be at work at 8 a.m. some days, so that really causes a headache, but the worst day is the day I have to take the newspaper to be printed. I leave very early in the morning and the schools aren't open yet. While I considered giving the kids a Thermos of coffee and dressing them warm before leaving them in front of the school, I decided that was a bad idea. The kids really hate coffee. I always joke with the kids about such as that. If they ask for something to drink, I'll offer, "Do you want some coffee?" During a recent trip to my mother's house, my older daughter decided to try a sip.

Since I drink it with milk and had been nursing this particular cup for several hours, it had ample time to cool. She took a tiny sip of my luke warm beverage and made a face so twisted that it nearly brought her to tears. "That's the worst thing I've ever tasted," she said breathlessly after gulping down half a glass of water. Since she has had cough medicine, liquid pain reliever and at least a little of her father's cooking, that's really saying something.

Anyway, the one driver thing is definitely getting old. Remember I mentioned that the family sedan took a bad trip through a good fence recently? Well, the fellow who worked on it for me recently suffered a case of stomach flu and was unable to finish the job on time.

While I was sorry that he had the stomach flu, I was much more sorry that he didn't get the car done on time. We've been friends since high school. Realizing this, I felt really bad for being so selfish and just kept that to myself. Sometimes it's good to come to the realization that I've not yet gotten to that perfect maturity that I've sought after. But I am going to keep trying. I've had several things like that that have come to light and they are now in my "work on these things" file, at least mentally.

Anyway, when I talked to him on Monday, he told me that the car will definitely be ready this week. He also said that he was feeling better and only needed to reassemble the door panels and do a little buffing to have it finished. I was very excited to hear that, including the part about him feeling better. You know, cars are only important to you when yours isn't working or isn't available.

I mentioned the ‘go-to-school' routine, but there's also the evening, with both children needing to be picked up at different times and both involved in different activities.

Girl Scouting, dance lessons, birthday parties, sports and other such things. That doesn't include doctors visits, dental visits and trips to the toy store.

With two drivers working on these things, I seldom have to handle these trips.

See, I am whining.

With evening meetings being part of my job, it really makes my days feel much more hectic when I have to squeeze in two or three extra trips in between the time I leave the office and the time I have to ‘cover' or report on a meeting. As I thought about it, I realized that people didn't have these problems in years gone by. Why not? Mainly because the children spent most of their time at home and weren't allowed to go just anywhere. Besides, it took too long to get from Glade Valley to Sparta on a horse and buggy to try and schedule dance classes or a Girl Scout meeting, I'm sure.
 

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