Sandi Shilhanek | Carpooling

Recently my husband and I had to begin carpooling. Our youngest son achieved one of his life’s goals…he got a driver’s license. That meant he could drive to school rather than horror of horrors take the bus. It also meant that because he was now 16 he could enroll in work-study and get out of school early. While he thinks he’s really hot stuff he hasn’t given much if any thought to the impact of being a driver without free access to a vehicle.

So that’s how my husband and I have come to carpooling. Today as we were driving in, and passed the light rail station, then we had to stop for a train, and as it passed I could see that someone had their bicycle with them. I turned to my husband and asked, “Do people often have their bikes with them?” See, even though I drive him to work he does take the train home in the evening because we can’t mesh our afternoon schedules as easily as we do our mornings. He said, “Yes, they get off the train and then bike to their final destination.”

Ok…so bikes on the train got me to thinking about how people could read on the train. I know it’s a strange leap, but there you are…now you know how my mind works. Then I wondered with the rise in gas prices how many people who didn’t normally ride mass transit are now using it, and are they sitting their staring into space, or making use of the new found time.

I’m hopeful that many people have begun to read on the train. I know that my husband has said he would read a magazine on the train, but I’ve yet to see him take one to read. I also know that with our October book club looming and it being at our house, and him being in charge of decorating that he did say he would read the book…The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox. He could do that on his evening commute, but alas the book remains on his dresser.

I don’t take mass transit, so I can’t read, but if I did I would surely love the extra reading time. Instead I drive, and have discovered the wonderful world of audio books. I drop him off and hit play on either my CD player or IPOD and am swept away by whatever story I’m listening to. I’m currently listening to Charley’s Web by Joy Fielding and the reader is Susan Ericksen. The bad part…the commute isn’t long enough because I love the narrator and the author’s story, and I could sit in my car forever listening!

How do you get to work? If you drive do you listen to an audio book? If you take mass transit do you read or otherwise entertain yourself, or are you using the time simply to relax? Remember inquiring minds have an undying curiosity and need to know.

Sandi