Always the Passenger, Never the Driver

What’s wrong with riding shotgun?

I don’t think I will ever learn to drive.

I know it’s considered a necessary skill in most parts of the world, but I have never felt a pressing need to enrol in a driving school and learn how to move a giant piece of metal around (with me in it).

My family didn’t have a car when I was growing up. Before I was born, when my father was still alive, our family had a car (I forget what it was) and even a designated driver; my father worked for the Coast Guard, and a car and driver were standard issue. My older sisters would remember being driven around the city, and even to the house in the country where our parents grew up, which was several hours away.

My dad passed just a month before I was born, and my mother struggled to make ends meet with four daughters to raise on her own. It wasn’t hard to see why a car never figured into our list of financial priorities; we had to eat, go to school, and pay the bills with what little money came into the household from odd jobs. So we got used to public transportation and never knew any other life.

Now that I’m an adult living with my partner, the subject of buying a car occasionally comes up. It’s true that when you get past the age of engaging in late-night drinking and partying, and spending as much of your salary on clothes, shoes, and the latest gadgets, you finally calm down and approach your finances with a level head.

We both work online and we make just enough to pay our rent and take care of the top financial obligations. We don’t have a kid together, but he does from a previous marriage, so we’re setting aside a part of our savings for the girl’s tuition and other school needs. We do have a dog with some food allergies and skin sensitivities, so we spend a considerable sum on his food, vet visits and medications every month. Right now we’re trying to build up our emergency fund (it got depleted because my laptop broke down and we had to purchase new chairs and tables for our home office), we’re exploring investing in a mutual fund or stocks, we’re looking for health insurance, and studying up on how to buy a house.

So quite frankly, buying a car isn’t exactly a possibility right now, but we do want to think we can do it someday. We can’t take our big dog anywhere without a car, and it would be nice to go to weekend trips out of town with our friends in our own car instead of hitching a ride with them.

I refuse, however, to learn how to drive — even if the car is ours. I simply do not have a knack for remembering directions or tracing where I came from. I will probably shriek if big trucks or speeding cars sidle up next to me on the highway, making me forget my driving skills. And besides, I love to daydream while looking out the window as I ride shotgun. So I told my partner he would have to take on the driving duties.

He said, “Eh. What if we go on a long trip? I’ll need someone to switch places with me.”

Sigh. Maybe if we build up enough riches to buy a truly luxurious car, like a sexy Maserati or even a Land Rover for exciting off-road adventures, I would be more excited to learn how to drive. As of now, our city has an immense traffic problem where you can get stuck for hours trying to get to work or get home. I wouldn’t dream of owning a car in a city like this. Yup, if we had a luxurious car…and lived in the country where we can cruise down ocean avenues and hit all kinds of terrain…maybe. But first, the money.