The need for a car

“I think that it was the car,” my mom said over dinner, “that kept me going in my job.”

When I first heard this I didn’t realise just how counterintuitive it was. My mom was referring to how important she felt the car was in for her keeping her job. It wasn’t that her job needed it, it was that she needed it to keep her going at her job. I’m not sure how serious she was when she said this, but even if it was only partly tongue-in-cheek, it was quite an insight.

I suppose I never thought about it that way before. To me, a car was what you got when you were relatively higher-income or well-off; it was an end after money issues were settled, and not a means to an end where money issues were settled. Who knew — although normally classified an expense, it could just be the thing to keep you going.

How unpredictable life is.