Company cars and carotid arteries...

On Friday I was informed that I must return my company car.  Yesterday I was informed that my mother has the carotid arteries of an 80 year old at age 68.  How does this complicate my life?  Let me count the ways.

First, I had a really nice, neat plan for moving to Hawaii at the end of December to be with the love of my life.  The return of the company car presents a major problem, since I sold my personal vehicle back in June.  What do I drive until I leave for Hawaii?  Beyond the driving part - what does this move say about my position with the company?  Rumor has it that the management program will be completely restructured AND the number of managers reduced by 33%, virtually eliminating any promotion opportunities I might have had. 

But back to the driving part... do you have any idea how expensive it is to rent a car for a month?  Even an economy car at discounted corporate rates would run me over $600 per month - times three months and there goes my budget!  I could buy a beater for about the same price -- just something to get me around town -- but then I'd have to sell it before I leave and who has time for THAT in the midst of liquidating an entire household?  Yet another alternative is to buy a new car and then ship it to Hawaii, but my research indicates that doesn't make good fiscal sense.  While the destination charges and excise taxes in Hawaii are significant, they don't offset the cost of shipping the vehicle and, in fact, I could buy a Toyota cheaper there than here on the mainland.

This is a complication that I just wasn't prepared for. Part of me wants to tell the company to stick it where the sun don't shine, resign and move to Hawaii tomorrow and I actually gave that some consideration.  There are three mitigating factors to that decision:

1. It's probably not too healthy for my career to up and walk away with my numbers being as bad as they are
2. When one adds in the new wrinkle of my mom's health, it has me thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas and getting all fatalistic.
3. It still leaves Caleb smack-dab in the middle of the 120 day quarantine, which would mean having someone else care for him for 90 days -- including his 14 day health screening at the vet, getting his tranquilizers and putting him on a plane January 1st.  That's a lot to ask of anyone... including family.

So, here I sit this morning thinking about carodit arteries and company cars and wondering what the hell I can do about either one.