Rachel, Day by Day
On the road again…
How many of you walk to work? Drive? Take the train? Bike? Cab? I’m pretty sure I’ve been driving to work for all the jobs I’ve ever had, except for babysitting. That was the one time I walked since it was only a few houses down.
I always thought it would be neat to take the train, but then I could see myself stressing about missing the train or the train running late. I like the idea of being able to sit, zone out, read, or do whatever you want on your commute. But then you might have to walk a bit once you get to the train station. Bad weather would not make that fun.
I’ve had a lot of different driving paths over the years. For my summer job in high school and college, it was only a five minute drive with maybe only five lights to go through. For my first job after college, it was probably a 10 minute drive home with the same amount of lights. Traffic was never bad, and it was nice getting home in such a short amount of time.
The worst drive I’ve had was when I moved about an hour away during my first job after college. I moved in with my fiancé, so the move made sense! I was very happy moving in with him (the town and his house were great), but I wasn’t ready to give up that job in the other town, so I stayed and did the long commute for two years. It was 57.5 miles one way on the highway. It was the most boring drive of my life. I kept looking at the clock hoping time would move faster. I mostly put the car in cruise control for that one hour and would sing along with the radio, but time felt so slow. Mornings in the fall and winter were the worst. I started work at 7:30, so my commute was extremely dark. There were no lights on this highway as well. Fog, heavy rain, and snow made the drive bad on some of the days. The fog would get so heavy in the morning, I’d follow other cars just because I could see their tail lights. There was one day the rain was so heavy, I couldn’t see at all. So I pulled over, slowly drove home, and took a sick day. I didn’t want to chance it. I don’t miss that highway. (I left that job and moved away with my husband.)
Now I’ve been at my current job for five years, about 17 miles away from my house. On a good day it takes 25-30 minutes, but I run into a lot of traffic, so the commute home is longer (around 40-45 minutes). It still takes less time for me to get home now, and way less miles. To be honest, I’ll take traffic any day over driving fast 57.5 miles one way. There are other cars around me now, and I don’t feel so alone or surrounded by trucks. It’s still a frustrating drive at times, but that’s part of many commutes.
In an ideal world, I’d go back to that five minute commute, but that’s hard to find these days.
As strange as it is, I’ve only been in one car accident during my commutes, and it was during my first job after college (the 10 minute drive). I was heading through a green light when another car ran a red light. I ended up hitting the woman’s car, but she was at fault since she ran the red light. My car was totaled, but I was fine.
The moral of the story? Not sure, but it’s information I thought I’d share!
Randomosity 