Ever since I have been down here in Lexington as a student at UK, I have been without the thing some, if not most, of my peers have - a car.
I have been in Lexington for two years, and there have been times where not having a car genuinely made my life harder than it had to be. Fortunately, I live in a city with alternative transportation options like buses and ride-sharing services like Uber or Lyft. I also ask my friends for rides a lot, too. But there comes a time where I have guilt and sympathy for my friends sacrificing their time and gas to take me places. I wish I could relieve them of my burden, but I can't right now.
The first con about not having a car is not being able to drive myself to church. I want so desperately to repay what my friends selflessly have done for me over these two years. I want to be able to drive others like me who are careless to God's house and other places they need to go.
The second con about not having a car is being unable to go places where I need to for school.
In the past, one of my classes met up in city hall. Instead of being able to drive there, I walked a very long way over to city hall. It sucked because it was a long way and it also was cold as heck that day. If I had a car, I could have been over there in minutes.
The third con about not having a car is packing up and going home more often. My momma and my nieces have had to go months without seeing me because I have no way to get to them. Missing important milestones in my nieces' lives are what devastates me the most.
Several other cons about being car-less are not being able to go grab groceries on my own and to go places I want to go, like taking myself out for dinner. It would be more convenient to have a car after I get out of work and all I want to do is go home. Right now, to get home from work means an Uber ride.
But even though this article sounds like one big complaint letter, I am thankful for the bills I don't have to pay when one has a car, like insurance, gas, upkeep costs and registration fees every year.
Until I am able to get a car, I will ride these buses and ride in these Ubers with no shame.
