Commuting Sucks

I've been commuting into town for my entire career. For the first five years I was commuting downtown, which was about 25 miles one way. It doesn't sound that bad, but when it takes you an hour and a half to drive 25 miles, believe me, it gets OLD! When I accepted my new position I added about 5-10 more miles each way. I decided to do the math today (I am such an accountant):

Let's take 52 weeks in a year. I subtracted 4 weeks (3 weeks of vacation plus 1 week of holidays). So, 48 weeks remain. Out of those 48 weeks, I am working 5 days per week for a total of 240 workdays per year. If you take an average commuting time of one hour and 15 minutes (which is really probably a low estimate) each way, that means that I would be commuting for 2 hours and 30 minutes per day. If I did that for 240 days in a year, I would be commuting for 600 hours per year. That is 25 DAYS. IN ONE YEAR. I have been doing this for 6 and a half years. This means that I have spent approximately 3,900 hours or 162.5 days commuting!!!!!

That is outrageous. Staggering. There goes over 162 days of my life that I will never get back. I had to double check my math 3 times before I could even believe those numbers.

My commute time has really been getting me down lately. When I first began working it didn't bother me too much. I didn't have a husband at home waiting for me and Elise wasn't born yet. I used the time to listen to the radio and think or talk on the phone. Over the years, it has really started to get to me - especially lately because: (A) I have a wonderful family and hate that this time is taken away from them, and (B) I swear the traffic gets worse and worse each year! The drive that used to take an hour is now taking at least another 15 to 30 minutes. And if there is a wreck ANYWHERE on the freeway...forget it! I will be sitting in traffic for at least 2 hours.

This morning it took me an hour and a half to get into my office. That is ridiculous considering the same exact drive could be made in 40 minutes without traffic. By the time I walk through the door I am already frazzled and stressed and my work day has not even begun yet! Not to mention that, but after a full day's work the last thing I want to do is fight people on the freeway for over an hour to get home to my loves. I've tried varying my work hours. I've gone in at 6. I've gone in at 9. It doesn't seem to matter. I was shocked one morning 2 weeks ago when I got on the freeway at 6am only to find myself in bumper to bumper traffic. WHO are all these people on the road at 6am????? Are they all insane?????

When we end up relocating for Jamie's career, I am really going to take a long, hard look at where we live in relation to where I am going to be working. I seriously cannot do this for the rest of my working days.