Zach without sports day four: The one-car family

My wife brought up the concept of us being a one-car family a few weeks ago. Apparently the car gods heard her. She now is without car and we ride together to work in the morning. When I say “ride together” I mean she puts on sweats and goes home with my car, since she runs her own marketing business.

I like my alone time, and the commute to work is usually spent with me catching up on podcasts. Seriously, what other time do I have to listen to Adam Carolla drunkenly interview Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion for the second time this year? Or I could listen to Rachel Maddow make fun of Sarah Palin for another hour.

There is a fundamental difference between the wife and me in that I like to listen to podcasts or music while I drive whereas she prefers to listen to nothing for long stretches of time. She is also fine with the Coffee House on Sirius. There’s nothing less comforting than listening to nothing for my 25-minute commute. So what do we do? We’re forced to talk to each other.

We used to set aside dinner as a time when we’d get to the kitchen table, assuming there was enough room for us to put our plates, and talk. Lately we’ve been catching up on TiVo more often than not. Now we get to talk, which is a good thing. We’re both semi-employed for the moment so we are both more stressed than usual. The wife isn’t sure if she wants to work for herself forever. One of us has to get a full-time job eventually.

I don’t know if I’m so hot on my car getting at least double the miles every day, but for now I’m enjoying the change.