When the ex and I were separating one of the main worries that kept coming up in my mind was – what am I going to do about the driveway this winter? So far it hadn’t been bad. I signed up with a plowing service to plow it as needed. The problem is that my driveway is long and they charge $90 a visit for about 2 minutes worth of work. Yep, $90. That’s the going rate around here. I had only had to have it plowed once this year until now.

Wednesday I got the car stuck so had to have it towed (renewing my expired AAA membership first) and the driveway plowed while missing 4 hours of work. I refuse to add up the total cost of that morning because I don’t want to cry.

Wednesday night I had the presence of mind to park by the road and hike in even though the driveway still looked pretty clear. That was smart. The driveway is clear – until it suddenly isn’t. I called the ex. Part of the deal was that if the driveway got bad I could borrow the 4 wheel drive truck. Let the negotiations begin.

He wasn’t against the idea of switching cars. In fact he’s almost painfully excited when I call and ask him for help on something. But the details will kill you. The upshot is that he left this morning for a long business trip. The truck would just be sitting at the airport so sure I could have it. It took several phone calls for him to work out how. I thought we’d just switch yesterday when we were working in the same town. But in that town all the snow was melting. So he figured that I wouldn’t need the truck. He worked out a ride to the airport and is leaving the truck at his apartment in case I need it. That leads to this conversation.

Him: Do you want to know where I live?
Me: Not really. But I guess I have to.
Him: (gives directions) It is the first building on the right. Don’t go straight because that’s not the right road. It is to the right. Not straight. I live in the building to the right but I usually park in the back. You can park in the front or in the back but I park in the back….. repeat directions repeatedly until I’m miming banging my head against the x-ray machine.
Me: (breaking into conversation with what I think is the conversation ending point) I’ll recognize the truck.
Him: Oh, yeah, right. You have the key chain that can make it beep too. That will work. So it is on the right……

There are things that I definitely don’t miss about being married.

Despite thawing all around, my house is still in deep freeze and the snow is coming down. I’m off to get the truck today. It will be just my luck if after being snippy about detailed and repeated directions, I won’t be able to find it.