I must apologize for my sporadic blog entries. Thanks for tuning in despite the inconsistencies. Now that school’s back in session (I know many are happy, some have another week of summer, I’m still super sad, even a little mad), maybe we will add schedule to our lives.
With school in session, we’re back in the car… and back at the gas station.
Three times last week … ugh! (boo-hoo-hoo…wahhh!)
Have I mentioned my disdain for the car? Do we have a kid that could be driving in but a few short months? A kid who could take a significant amount of the driving burden off my shoulders? Yes. Is he making any effort toward that goal? No…. for lots of reasons. Our big boss, being a missionary kid who didn’t drive until college and all, has told me to hold off on my whip-cracking and lecture smothering. I’m trying.
Coming home from school on Friday, I only had two in the car. Fury wanted to ride shotgun when we stopped at the gas station. He tried to exit the back door, but couldn’t – thanks to a broken handle (which has since been fixed.) So he crawled over the seat muttering about our heap of junk, words which were only further justified the minute he tried to close the compartment between the front seats.
The latch has been broken for months.
It doesn’t help that we have yet to fix our back bumper from the day nice Eugene rear-ended us – almost 2 years ago
… yes 2!
Have I mentioned that procrastinators should not be allowed to marry… or at the very least should required to live on a beach somewhere with the words “simple” and “life” preceding everything?
“This car is a piece of junk,” Fury reported, slightly repulsed.
“Well, it works,” I added.
“We need a new one — everything’s broken.”
“It’s not like a tennis racket or pair of shoes where you just go buy a new one. Cars cost a lot.”
“So.” – the kid answer to everything – a response passed down from generation to generation.
“Listen … Yet another reason you need to finish school and learn how to work (school is good… school is good… pumping myself up.) Someday you will want to be able to buy a car. But just buying the car isn’t all there isn’t all there is to owning something. You also have to pay for insurance … and gas. ”
“What?!”
“Oh, yeah … For this car, filling our gas tank today is around $70. Now that school has started, we will be doing that at least once, sometimes twice a week. Throw insurance at probably $125-$150 per month and, well – you need to be making more money than you’re spending to be able to make ends meet. Of course, this doesn’t include rent or a mortgage – because you will have to live somewhere (other than our house!) – or food or repairs… well just life things.”
At this point, he’s looking at me like I’m crazy. But I can’t stop myself, “Just for a car alone you will need to be making around $450 a month just to cover the expenses of a car – which doesn’t include paying for a car. And cars cost several thousand dollars, some tens of thousands of dollars.”
“Really?”
“Yeah … it’s a lot.”
The cost of living started to sink in. His eyes were glazing over a bit… mine, too. We both looked at each other.
“I guess we don’t need a new car,” he said.
“See, it’s good you’re in school,” I encouraged – him & me. “You’ll need a good job to be able to take care of yourself … and your family.”
“Family?! … I’m not taking care of us.”
“Uh – talking about when you’re married and have a family.”
“Ewww…. No way am I getting married!”
As is usually the case, I should have stopped earlier. Here’s hoping that our little life lesson wasn’t completely lost on the ears of a 10-year-old easily grossed out by girls. Quite frankly, it was good for me to hear, too. Maybe it will help me get over my cranky selfishness and being mad at school starting.They do need school and to learn how to work (school is good… school is good… — goodbye sweet summer. The in-need-of-the-beach simple life people will miss you!)
Thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay
