I like to tell people it’s because we’re reducing our carbon footprint.
    But the real reason Kari and I are now sharing a car is that I’m too cheap and/or lack financial discipline to come up with the money for a new car.
    The whole “footprint” thing sounds better.
    This all started a few months ago when the used car I bought– I won’t say exactly what kind, but it rhymes with zubaru– blew up in the middle of an interstate exit ramp. Well, “blew up” is a little dramatic; I guess the technical term is “overheated.”
    It was not unexpected. Roughly 23 hours after securing the pink slip I gleefully brought my new car to a zubaru specialist who, before popping the hood, told me to get rid of it as quickly as possible. It seems there is a design flaw with that particular make and model that requires many owners to replace the engine at around the 100,000-mile mark. Guess how many miles my car had?
    I asked him how I explain to some unsuspecting dupe why I’m selling a car I just bought. He said to make up a reason- It’s too much car, you want something smaller and more fuel-efficient. Basically, the same exact reasons the guy I bought it from gave to explain why it had been sitting in his driveway so long that little seedlings had sprouted in the doorjamb.
    I hated that car ever since. I never trusted it and I treated it with scorn. Even without replacing the engine I spent a small fortune keeping that car on the road.
    I once drove from Maine to New Jersey at night without taillights– 400 miles with my hazard lights flashing. I only got pulled over two or three times, depending on how you count the time I was pulled over by the same trooper twice after driving off while he still had my license, registration and insurance.
    And so, when the car blew up on the exit ramp, I knew that was the end of the road for us and Kari and I have been sharing a car ever since. It hasn’t been so bad as 90 percent of the time there is no conflict.
    For quite a while before the blow up we recognized our driving habits verge on the wasteful. Both of us work in Biddeford, which means between the two cars we were driving roughly 90 miles a day. Kari at least car-pooled a few times a week, but still, we started in the same location and ended up a few miles apart– Kari almost has to drive past my office to get to hers.
    The problem always was that we don’t always have the same schedule and I need access to a car during the day.
    So in order to make the one car thing work, we had to learn to compromise. Actually, Kari has had to learn how to compromise while I take her car whenever I darn feel like it. I was a bit shocked to learn that this arrangement was causing a bit of resentment on Kari’s part. It turns out I’m a bit self-involved (I’m sure you’re shocked to learn a person who subjects strangers to 1,000 words about his personal habits is self-involved). For me “compromise” meant rolling down both windows when I smoked in the car I shared with a non-smoker.
    After a few weeks of such compromises the whole arrangement was about to collapse and I was in danger of compromising myself right into a big honking carbon footprint.
    Now I try to give Kari a bit of notice when I absolutely need the car and if I don’t absolutely need it, I’ve stopped pretending that I do and we’re both more or less confident we can manage this arrangement indefinitely.
    Of course we couldn’t do it without a bit of help from our friends, as there are occasions when the car would otherwise need to be in two places at once. A number of my co-workers have given me rides to and from work, sometimes at ungodly hours in the morning. So far I don’t think I’ve worn out this courtesy or at least, they are much too polite to tell me so. On one occasion, a friend even let me borrow her car for an entire day (does Hallmark make a thank-you card for that?).
    It’s a nice little bonus that everyone involved is doing their small part to stave off environmental destruction. Just don’t tell them they’re really playing a big part in helping me keep some money in the bank. Except that phenomenon is only theoretical due to the lack of financial discipline mentioned earlier.
    While I have had to adjust my schedule on occasion, I have yet to cancel an appointment because of a lack of a ride. I haven’t yet arrived at an interview in a taxi nor have I needed to catch the bus to get to a photo opportunity. As indispensable as a car seemed to be, it turns out I don’t need one at my disposal all the time.
    We all like our cars and the freedom they afford us, but we can all do our part to keep our money out of the hands of the ayatollahs and Al Gore off our televisions screens by carpooling every once in a while.
    If I ever do get around to getting another car, I plan on leaving it at home a lot more often.