When I moved to San Francisco, the idea of owning a car was ludicrous and absurd. But here I am four years later with one. Initially, it was for taking advantage of that short opening, but when my roommate changed her mind about getting a car, I kept my car around. Well, because, why not?

My hassle of getting the caltrain was appeased. Plus the huge crisis of how I could get anywhere in the city quickly without transferring multiple times on the MUNI…was resolved. And groceries, oh lovely groceries!

Yet there are times when after work, I want to go downtown and suddenly I do have a struggle. Do I drive the car back to my place and hop on public transit? Or do I drive downtown? That’s what I did today when I needed to get to First and Mission right after taking the train from Palo Alto.

But how would I have known that there would be traffic on the 280 in the 2 mile stretch from the Potrero Hill entrance to the 4th Street Exit? I didn’t. And I didn’t understand bus only lanes up 3rd street (I was driving for awhile wondering why there weren’t any cars in the lane). And how would I have anticipated all the traffic on Mission, Market…that area? I didn’t know that it was shopping season already on a Wednesday evening!

Regardless, I spent 20 minutes circling, but found spot half a block from the building. I struggled multiple times to get into the HUGE spot, but with backing up and moving forward, I got in. I was so proud of myself. I have become a real city adult…with a car!