For the past few months, I’ve been a little (OK, a lot) distracted from this blog–in part because of recent losses, and in part because of a, well, a sort of gain. You see, Bus Nerd and I are (rather unexpectedly) “expecting,” and I’ve been spending most my spare time adjusting to the idea of becoming a parent. (Oh, yeah–and feeling sick. More on that later.)

This October, Seattle will count another bus baby among its natives.

Since we’ve started telling people our news, the most common question we’ve been asked (aside from, “Are you going to find out the sex?”) has been, “Are you guys going to get a car now?”

No, we’re not–and not just because we both believe in adhering to our convictions, even when they become inconvenient. (So far, we haven’t found living without a car to be inconvenient, and despite the many well-meaning arguments to the contrary, we’re not convinced that having a baby will make it so.) At the core, our decision is based on the fact that we both sincerely believe raising our child without a car will be good for the child. A few of the reasons why:

• It will be raised by financially secure parents. (College fund? Check!)
• It will learn to be self-sufficient (at least transportation-wise) at an early age.
• It will have exciting adventures. (What’s more exciting for a five-year old than pulling the bell or sitting in the bendy part of an articulated bus?)
• It will learn how to interact with people of different ages, cultures, and levels of income and education.
• If we’re very lucky, it will develop compassion for its fellow human beings.

If only answering all the other new-parent questions were so easy. We’re still trying to decide if we should find out the sex.