Pretentious Little Car

Nothing is sexier than the smooth, clean lines of my powerful little car, the Prius. 

Ok, so ya, I can’t even say it with a straight face. I’ve never wanted a Prius.  Sure, I can appreciate the ridiculous gas mileage, but come on.  Those little putt putts are a slow miracle of gutless wonder.  And I doubt Trey Parker would have come up with this South Park episode if it there wasn’t just a little bit of pretentious hidden in the hearts of many Prius drivers.

But then I started graduate school. 

I commute a round-trip distance of 250 miles every day.  I’m working on a Masters in Human Resources - my dream job. I love people, and love helping them grow into their potential as a career coach.  There’s a vicarious joy to seeing others advance, and being a part of the team that focuses on making things better.

But I live very far away from campus. Uprooting the kids for a year and a half program only to return when its over would be rough on them. It's also financially impossible since we own our house and could never pay for two homes.  So I commute – I have no choice - and it was pricy.

Even taking the train half way was still killing us. My 4Runner was burning up about $700 a month.  I was keeping Saudi Arabia in business all by myself.  When we found the Prius, I’ll be the first to admit that I had a pretty big groan of protest.  My husband convinced me to drive it, and just couldn't get past the fact is was not my 4Runner (still miss it).  But, we needed to do something different and the expense was forcing choice out of the equation.  So, we traded in my beloved truck and bought the Prius. I gritted my teeth on my way home and just kept repeating my mantra - it's only until school is out.  

But wait.

I was shocked when the Prius started to grow on me the very next day. I love this car.  It is not a gutless wonder - plenty of pep, yet comfortable and quiet.  Driving to school, I get 51 mpg.  Gas is down to $30 a week, rather than $30 one-way.  I’ve been so happy with this car, and will probably keep it long after I graduate.