Happiness Quest: Part I, The Commute

I was catching up on back issues of the New Yorker and found a great article about commuting--a subject I've been been mulling over approximately two hours a day from my home in Greenwood, to daycare in Sand Point, and then school at UW... and back. That's lots of time to think about commuting and how much it improves your life.

I take comfort in the fact that I am an "accidental commuter". My situation arose from finding housing and daycare from 2,000 miles away. I did not make a conscious decision to trade the hours of my life for square footage. These thoughts comfort me as I sit in traffic day after day at the same lights fiddling with the radio and meeting Ben's insatiable appetite for crackers.

That's a lie. They don't comfort me at all. I am, however, often cheered up when I think about the people who are still on the freeway after I exit. I imagine that they are headed to some far-flung, culdesac-ridden landscape. At least I'm not one of those losers. What kind of an asshole spends two AND A HALF hours a day sitting in traffic?!

There are two reasons that people take on such hideous commutes: they are either poor or, like most of us, they are bad at judging what will make them happy. Or, as the expert in the article says, people "make systematic mistakes. [they] are very good at predicting whether [they]’ll like something but not at knowing for how long." They see marble countertops and cathedral-like bathrooms and assume that the joy of soaking in the master jacuzi will outweigh a punishing trip home from work.

Me? I've had it. I'm uprooting my family once again. This time, to the complex across town where Ben's daycare is located. It's expensive, but it's beautiful, and there are several playgrounds. My commute next year will be a 20 - 25 minute busride each way. Then just imagine how morally superior I can feel.