Yes, you heard me correctly. I am a non-driving birth professional. I live outside of the city centre, I have four kids, I attend over 60 births per year, meaning TONS of pre/postnatal meetings which I conduct at other people's homes...and I confess I don't drive a car.
People ask me why. It is not that I am opposed to driving. I am grateful my husband drives, so we can take vacations, get around my suburban part of town, and have a vehicle handy. So I do have access to lifts when necessary. But the reason I don't drive is simply because a) I just haven't gotten around to learning (I have been mothering five year old and under kids for over 18 years now, not to mention constantly building skills and a business), and b) I don't think I was made to be a driver. If you've ever seen the movie Up, you know how the dog Doug has conversations that, though otherwise normal, ar interspersed every two seconds with him getting completely sidetracked, uttering, "SQUIRREL!" as something catches the attention of his peripheral vision? Well, that would be me. "Mom! I need a Kleenex!"....all attention going to the kleenex getting, road and wheel temporarily but completely forgotton....
So I live without the skill. To be honest, it's not so bad. Even if I did drive, I think at 3am I would still take a cab to a birth to avoid having to park in a dark, creepy, expensive hospital parking lot, worrying that I was missing important things up in the labour ward. Montreal has pretty decent public transport, and to be honest, my time on the Metro and bus is really the only opportunity I get to read quietly. I have a terrible sense of direction, so not getting lost frequently is a nice side effect of not driving. Plus, owning and maintaining a second car is more expensive than my cab use. Not to mention, if you live in Montreal, you know the fact that driving a car would really not save me time, as finding parking here requires you leave home 45 minutes earlier than you would if you didn't have to troll for spaces with single minded focus and ferociousness.
I think I would like to learn, but not for work purposes. Rather, I would like to take road trips with my husband without leaving all the driving to him. Perhaps when the kids are older and there are fewer distractions....
In the immortal words of Melanie, "I ride my bike, I rollerskate, don't drive no car...I don't go too fast, but I go pretty far. For someone who don't drive, I've been all around the world. Some people say I do alright for a girl."
I love that song!
ReplyDelete-sesch
Hah! I am also a non-driving doula- it has never presented a problem, and I use my public transport time wisely to plan some discussion points for my client meetings, or to get my head in a "good place" on the way to a birth.
ReplyDeleteI have the benefit in living in the Land of Public Transportation, aka Switzerland, but I do take cabs for middle-of-the-night calls.
So glad to hear I'm not the only *crazy* one. My non driving, however, is due to a central vision blind spot!
Non driving doula sisters everywhere, unite! LOL
ReplyDeleteI don't drive, either! It's public transit and taxis for this doula!
ReplyDeleteI don't drive either. I find that the only time it's bad news for me is for postpartum visits. I also love the free time sitting and waiting and riding public transit affords me - it's often the only time I get to read or knit for any length of time. I cab to births, too. I figure, if I go to a house and then on to the hospital, I like to ride with the family so my car might get abandoned. Parking is often more expensive than cabs, anyway and I can often get a lift from my husband to many meetings and interviews (interviews and contract signings never illicit groans when I ask him to do driving duty! Haha!)
ReplyDeleteI am, however, partway through my driving lessons. I had 8 more hrs of in car lessons to go before I can write for my G2 license. So, I'm hoping that by next summer I can take our car and possibly do multiple meetings in an evening with the increased travel speed.
I've rented a space in the past and to have clients come see me...no extra travel time. I will still do one prenatal home visit, and obviously the postpartum visit too, but the other visits at an office space make things more efficient. I don't have a space now, though....looking soon, hopefully, for a headquarters.
ReplyDeleteDon't drive either. Never needed too
ReplyDeleteI do drive... a lot. But I confess that I wish I could afford to ride in cabs because I absolutely hate driving after a long overnight birth...
ReplyDeleteIt's cheaper in the long run to take cabs than to make payments on, maintain, and gas up a car. In the short term, though, yeah, cabs can get expensive.
ReplyDeleteI got my license at 16 and then I didn't drive for a really long time and then in Montreal I started sometimes. When we moved out here and public transit is not very good, I drove quite a lot for the first few years. But I don't like it, I hate bad weather and traffic scares me. Then gradually I drove less and less, and then my boys starting driving themselves:) We sold our van almost a year ago and i have only driven once since then for about 2 minutes. I don't want to lose the skill in case of emergencies but I love not having to drive. We ride our bikes, walk a lot, take the bus in bad weather. We also have access to 2 different cars we can borrow upon occasion.
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