Watching my parents drive away with my car today brought a few tears to my eyes. Sure, it was great to see them if just overnight, but the thought of losing my wheels made me feel like I’d lost of level of independence. So now I’m dependent on the kindness of my friends for the next 2 days (including a ride to the airport on Monday).

One of my major motivations for moving to NYC was the opportunity to make use of public transportation. But all of a sudden, over the past couple of days I started to enjoy driving a car for the first time in my life. Maybe it was just the realization that it gave me the power to chart my own direction whenever I felt like it. Now I’ll just have to learn to work within the limitations of the subway and bus system.