One aspect of living car free that I’ve been forced to embrace is my need to rely on my fellow man. Whether that be the T driver, bus driver, bike mechanic or a slew of friends my ability to live and get around is now largely out of my hands. This has been a very painful and still uncomfortable position for me to be in. A feeling we can all understand is the ability to get in your car and go. Where doesn’t really matter, it’s the principle of the the thing. But I’ve had to let that go and adopt and “it takes a village” approach. As in “it takes a village to get CarFreeBrad to a friends bachelor party”.

This past weekend I was able to enjoy and be a part of a great experience with one of my oldest friends because of so many people. Outside of the great crew on hand to celebrate and his brother that planned the whole thing, the only reason that CarFreeBrad was able to attend was due to the kindness of others.

I was able to get a ride from my girlfriends grad school friend who had stopped by to stay with us on her way to a wedding, then I was able to get from the party back to central mass with another old friend. The home stretch was made possible by the most crucial member in the “village” that makes CarFreeBrad possible, my girlfriend. Who after her own evening of socializing with multiple groups of friends, drove 20 minutes to scoop me up and get me home!

These may seem like unremarkable events but they simple epitomize hundreds of events and gestures like this that have happened since I went CarFree. The KEY that takes my breath away is the selfless nature that all these people volunteer to help me out. I can’t count all the offers I’ve received from people who I know had/have much better things to do than to offer me a ride because it will make my life a bit easier that day while inconveniencing them.

I guess the lesson is that people are more generous and giving then I used to give them credit for (or I’m just really lucky and my friends are really that awesome).