"I Live Half an Hour From Work"

Quote of the day:
"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."
--Mark Twain

Quote of the day no. 2:
“When I get in, I’m pumped up, ready to go.”
--A Cisco Systems engineer who drives 372 miles--seven hours--to and from work every day. He lives in the Sierra foothills and works in San Jose.

Quote of the day no. 3:
“Researchers have found that hours spent behind the wheel raise blood pressure and cause workers to get sick and stay home more often.
--Eric M. Weiss, The Washington Post, April 24, 2007.

Have you ever heard anyone use the expression “commute from heaven”? Neither have I.

What we hear about are different manifestations of “commute from hell.” It is a “commute from hell” because there were two serious accidents along the way. Or, very rarely, it is a “commute from hell” for me every day.

We often rationalize and delude ourselves about commuting. We say to ourselves and others we live “just a half hour from work” when we know that means only when we can drive 75 mph the whole distance. It takes a while to realize and understand the effects of long commutes.

Years ago Merrie and I lived in Lakeside, a community about 25 miles east of San Diego. I was “about a half hour” from work, and Merrie was “about 45 minutes.”

One day, after about four years of doing this, it dawned on me that the first thing I was doing every morning was listening to the traffic report and getting stressed. Maybe some people consider this daily stress a small price to pay for an affordable big house with a yard, or whatever. We found it mighty annoying.

We simply didn’t want to live our lives that way, so we moved into the city--seven minutes to my job (including three stoplights) and “about fifteen minutes” to Merrie’s.

It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.