Things to do when gas is not so much

At looooonnnnngggg last, the gas shortage has eased here in Atlanta. Dunwoody has gas, even the BP station, which has much more frequent outages than any other stations during normal times. Of course, it's way above four bucks a gallon, so it's a good news/bad news proposition.

Our Sunday School class discussion centered on the issue of simplicity, choosing what and who are important, passing on the unnecessary. Yes, we've grown technologically in the past 2,000+ years. We still haven't learned a thing. While Martha was cleaning up after feeding Jesus and his entourage (and in a mighty snit about having to do it all by herself), Mary was enjoying the visit. Guess who Jesus praised? Not the busy Martha.

So, despite the nerve-twisting and costly gas crisis, it did offer one silver lining: it forced us to slow down and think thrice about how and why we drove anywhere. Staying close to home was easy for us, because Dunwoody has all the basics right here in town. Groceries and a few things from the hardware store? Check - just three blocks from home. Pick up the kids after school? Check - a couple of miles away. Breakfast at Old Hickory House with T early Saturday morning? Easy. Church on Sunday? Right around the corner. Walking to the bank and post office, as well as work at Dunwoody Nature Center was a peaceful option. Our family is blessed by proximity.

And, because it was a slower week all around, I finished two prayer ministry projects (a shawl and a lapghan), cast on the Side-to-Side Garter Stitch Vest, and finished one Maine Morning Mitt. The compost pile for next spring's Square Foot Garden is coming along nicely, and I raked up a ton of acorns falling across the driveway and sideyard.

Bliss!

Yes, we got no gas

We here in Atlanta must be stoooopid. That seems to be the opinion of Governor Perdue and company.

Our state government keeps telling us the gas shortage is all in our minds. That we're the problem. That there's PLENTY of gas in the Atlanta metro, it's just not where we live.

Excuse me! A report just noted that only 10% of gas stations in the ginormous Atlanta metropolitan area have gas at any given time. I'm no statistician, but that just doesn't add up to PLENTY of gas.

There's NO gas in Dunwoody. Well, every now and then a tanker shows up, drops off a bit of regular at the Chevron, and moves on. A line promptly forms down Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, inches through, empties the tank, and bags go back on the handles.

(Curiously, the BP station at the intersection of Chamblee-Dunwoody and Mt. Vernon Roads runs out of gas all the time. I figure it must be the exotic blend the EPA requires Atlanta to sell, which is harder to produce.)

It must be a sign of our economically abysmal times: bags on gas station handles. Grocery bags, yellow made-for-the-purpose bags, leaf bags, you name it - gas station operators are very busy with the yes-we-have-it, no-we-don't hourly update for passing motorists.

I've cut even further back on travel, but our family has some must-do appointments: Remicade infusion for A today, a Quiz Bowl competition for AG tomorrow. Other than those, we'll stay close to home this weekend and hope there's available gas early next week when the mom-bus needs a refill.

This is not fun.

What if we had to stay home?

What if the gas-driven economy truly, permanently lead to a back-to-basics, only the deeply wealthy can afford to travel, eat out, etc. etc. daily reality? When my grandmother was a girl, a trip to the beach was a once-in-a-lifetime event, even though she lived just six hours away by car. The cost was just inconceivable. A family had to be able to own a car, afford time off from work, able to pay the cost of a hotel as well as meals out.

Now, nearly every family around me has a beach condo or lake house or mountain cabin where they spend vast amounts of the summer, driving happily back and forth to enjoy their "second home." Yes, Dunwoody is atypical, quite a bit more affluent than your average community. But still.

What if we had to stay home?

What if the food we prepared had to come from someplace local, since transportation costs are so high? What if the clothes we wear had to last beyond trendiness because runways and magazines and malls and other sources of fashion-itis once again became the province of the elite? What if a family had just ONE car, more for work and special occasions and emergencies than every-other-hour errand-running? What if the most desirable homes became those within walking distance of a grocery store, pharmacy, hardware store, post office, library, and bank? What if children raised to fear the outdoors had to learn, with their parents, how to grow food and repair things around the house and play without batteries?

The cost of gas has made me appreciate our walkable life here in Dunwoody. I can walk to the Nature Center as well as Dunwoody Village (bank, Publix, Walgreens, library, Ace Hardware, etc.), and do so regularly. The MARTA station is just two miles away. The swimming pool is in the neighborhood, and most of the kids' friends live nearby. The internet brings textbooks, swimsuits, and yarn so I don't drive around checking out prices and selection. Now that we're in summer mode, we can cut way back on driving and unnecessary purchases. Shorts and t-shirts rule! I've cut out prepackaged snacks and prepared convenience foods in favor of homemade everything since it's cheaper to prepare and serve.

These are small steps, and likely the first steps in a changed life-as-we-know-it. Pragmatically, cost is the primary catalyst. But the narcissism that prevails in my corner of the world is hastening the waste of limited resources in the demands of the me-me-me to get it all now.

What if we had to stay home? Maybe we'd all grow up.