No car, no bus, no food

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone! I hardly ever post anything on this, but I'm always reading it...

I'm currently a lacto-veg but I've gone back and forth vegan to lacto for the

last 17 years (since I was 11) mostly because I like cheese too much (LOL). I

recently moved from Denver to Fargo, ND. And reading on some of the topics I

noticed some of you without cars, and someone lacking in a decent place to shop

for groceries...Wow! can I relate!

 

Anyway, I've never driven a car. I don't particularly want to learn how, let

alone own one... But I am a single-mom of a 6 week old little girl and a 2 year

old little boy. The bus system out here is a joke! It really doesn't go

anywhere, at least nowhere I want to go, and it stops running at 6pm. I do live

across the street from a grocery store, but this is a meat-eating community...I

can't even buy tofu there, and the only veg patty they have is the

vegan-grillers by mornignstar, which taste too much like meat for me, but my son

likes them sometimes. Produce there is a little scary too, I don't know if it's

because it's hard to get decent fresh stuff so far up north, or if this is what

I can expect all year long. Whatever the case our diets basically consist of

beans and rice, and frozen veggies...and sometimes cheese (LOL!).

 

The concept of not owning a car up here is so foreign to everyone I've ever

spoke to, that I just don't see much chance of making the bus system more

commuter friendly. When I try to bring up environmental issues about cars, half

the time I get a response about how there's no such thing as global warming and

ND's air clean, so they don't have to worry about it. *SIGH!* It's too snowy and

icy to try to bring the kids out on a bike ride for at least another month or 2.

So I guess my point is I feel like I'm going to have to learn to drive, and buy

a car. I feel incredibly pressured to do so by everyone here because who wants

to go pick up the girl with the 2 kids and take them all to the market - or

anywhere!? I never had this problem in the city - any city I've lived in.

 

Also, I'm about to start work again and finding a sitter that won't feed my kid

animals is terrifying me. The concept of not eating meat is pretty foreign out

here too... Some of the things people say to me are so ridiculous! Like: Just

because you don't eat meat means that your son can't either? And he doesn't know

the difference right now, he assumes if someone gives him something to eat it's

food. So, there has been times when he's gotten a bite of meat before I can say

" no " and then I get these comments like why can't he eat meat, he likes it.

*UGH!*

 

Well, I've rambled on and complained enough, if anyone out there has any

suggestions for me, or can justify me getting a car or help convince me not to,

please do:).

 

Leah!