Gratitude Post - March 23, 2023

I'm grateful for vehicles coming back from the mechanics!

Our vehicle has been in for repairs since early December.  A part was on backorder, and it only came in today.  But, based on the wait time we've experienced, our vehicle was placed as a priority, and we were able to pick-up our newly repaired vehicle before the end of the workday.  And I must say it truly is nice to have your own vehicle back.

But, as with most situations with live, there's a flip side to the coin.

The usual expectation when a vehicle needs to be serviced or repaired is that things will be better and easier once your vehicle is back in your possession.  When your vehicle isn't in for repairs, it's at your beck and call.  You need to do a last minute trip to the grocery store, no problem.  You want to drive out and capitalize on Dairy Queen's BOGO deal on blizzards, go for it.  There are no holds on what you can choose to do with your vehicle because it's at your disposal to do with as you please.  

The rarely thought of downside to this situation is that the more you drive your vehicle, the more likely something will happen to your vehicle that will require it to go in for repairs again, even if it's just regular wear and tear.  Because of the span of time that our repair was expected to take we had access to a rental while our vehicle was unavailable.  And as we now begin driving our own vehicle once again, I can't help but wince at the thought that we're once again putting the wear and tear on our vehicle, rather than the rental.

But even this is worth being grateful for as it invites a reevaluation of the value and worth of using the vehicle.  Whenever I went to drive somewhere today the question popped into my head, since this is our vehicle, do I really need to drive?  And though for today the answer was yes in every situation, I'm grateful for that moment to reevaluate whether there's an actual need, and whether taking the vehicle is actually a value add in the situation.