Two posts today....
First , and most important- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM and Happy Mothers day to all !!
Second, the following essays I did as a submission for a UNCG humanities class in the guidelines for NPR's "This I Believe" series.
Mom
Goes Urban Survivalist Sans Minivan
Two years ago I started the process of moving
my family of five to the Eastern Europe countries of Estonia and then to
Latvia. Through my husband’s studying of International Business, I finally had the
travel opportunity I had always talked about and now I was starting the first
of my living aboard "great experiences". One of these enriching
experiences, that changed my daily life as I knew it, was our decision to not
live with a car. Although at the time I
thought it was just going to be six months, being a suburban “soccer mom” would
never be the same again. Quite honestly, I slowly realized that I no longer
wanted the constant racing around of children in the van, commutes to jobs, the
isolated house, and the financial stress that went along with our past first
“choice” of transit lifestyle.
Looking back at my attempts of surviving in the European world
without my cars, a new life option had arisen. One past example of a “regular” day of walking
everywhere around town that stands out would be on a winter morning
in February when I needed to do laundry. Since our apartment did not have
a washer and it was just me and my two year old son that day, I decided to
take advantage of our snowy town of Tartu. So, off I went to the
student Laundromat pulling a sled with my son sitting on top of the duffle bag
of dirty clothes. With feet strategically placed in the handle straps as
stirrups, he was having fun feeling like he was a cowboy riding a horse. But
over all, it was a regular day because on foot, or the occasional
sled/stroller or bus, was our chosen mode of transportation. After a long
day, with a couple dryers being broken and dealing with a toddler in general,
many a bribe was shamelessly given out by me to my son. When I got home, with
this mostly dry laundry, my husband and two older children (who now always walked
home from school or activities) most eagerly helped fulfill one of these
promises. I loved to then, just spur of the moment, be able to easily walk down
our two flights of stairs across the cobblestone “walking only street” and have
a scoop of ice cream as a reward for all.
So, when we
moved back to the United States, with a taste of this no car lifestyle, we
“crazily”, by most the people we knows standards, sold most of our possession’s
and moved back to the neighboring Eastern European country of Latvia. Now going
on almost a year and with the helpful add of a clothes washer/dryer and five bicycles
my Riga center city apartment location is a great testing ground where I have
made even more of my observations on transportation.
One theory of mine is, that it is easier to talk to my children,
and husband for that matter, when I am walking around town with them. Contrary
to parenting magazines that recommend that the car is a good time to talk to
your children, I always felt that this was a stressful time to really listen.
Maybe it is the “focused” yet paranoid driver in me speaking here, but it was informative last month when my teenage daughter( me and her in above photo) walked me past and even let me inspect
the afterschool club/café that she frequents. Although I am cringing a bit when
I write this, I am glad she is being honest when she said,
“I sometimes hang out
here, but don’t smoke cigarettes, like almost all of my friends!”
Don’t get me
wrong, a rain shower and/or a heavy load to carry can be an inconvenience, yet
this slowing pace can speed up other senses. Back in the states I remember
feeling tired at the wheel, while walking as a mode of transport, besides the
obvious health benefits, it can be an adrenaline kick. I also can take in the sights, sounds, and
smells around me. Although cliché I can “stop (or at least slow down) and smell
the roses”. I can get a wif of my
favorite bakery, pop into an art gallery and, most heartwarming of my examples,
is to walk by and see my youngest child playing in the park with his school.
Although I have
had other challenges of wasted time and money figuring out the public bus
system, a positive spin can be seen on this transit. An example would be how I
taught my kids a life lesson with a wrong way bus ride. Although “embarrassed”,
they learned that they can ask for directions and it can sometimes lead to a nice conversation
with someone-who was just a few minutes ago a stranger.
Although things may change and we have plans to move again in
two years, it thankfully seems that our future city choices will allow me to
continue this invigorating, no car lifestyle. I guess what I am trying to say is, if “life
is a journey”, try not to be zooming through “life” ….and, let’s just say,
ditching my “zooming” was a way for, at least me, to “live” my life just a
little bit better.