Events of the past two days are forcing me to come clean here. I am Green in Name Only. I thought I was a certified treehugging dirt worshipper, but all it took to truly bring me to my knees was for my truck to be stuck at the garage for a couple of days while waiting for a special-order valve to be delivered.
This shouldn't be such a big deal. Both kids go to the same school and the girlfriend works at the same place I do. Having to make the adjustments the very slight differences in the kids' schedules require, and being unable to drive to Home Depot to buy those trim boards I have been procrastinating on for months but suddenly Need Right Away Or I Shall Perish, and knowing that I can't just pick up the interesting things I might see in the neighborhood brush 'n' bulky pickup piles has stirred up absolute anxiety.
I knew a family years ago in my old neighborhood that refused to buy a car and went everywhere on foot oor bicycle. When the oldest kid made the finals of the state chess tournament, he and his dad biked up to Phoenix and back. And never batted an eye. And here I sit hyperventilating at having to ask someone for a ride, a ride, a goddamn RIDE!
The part still isn't in, but they're giving me my truck back this afternoon, jerry-rigged with the wrong kind of valve to keep running until the bona fide valve shows up. The comfort that will flood me when I slide onto the threadbare seat will be genuine. Sigh. Maybe once the kid is off at college I'll turn into the bike-riding eco-warrior I feel I ought to be.
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