Thursday 19 February 2015

The Lent Diary - Feb 19

Something you may not know about me is that I take the bus to work. I have long professed it as an easy way to travel for me because I get picked up about 200 feet from my door and it drops me within 100 feet of work twenty five minutes later. I've done this for over 6 years, give or take the days I get a ride or walk or ride my bike.

The great thing about it is I have two periods of twenty five minutes twice a day where I can just be with my own thoughts. Uninterupted, quietly and with no expectations whatsoever. It's heaven.

I've come to recognize those who take the same bus. People are truly creatures of habit. There is a little girl named Emma and her mother who have been on my bus for the last two years so I've watched her grow from a precocious 3 year old to an adorable little schoolgirl. And she loves school. And she loves telling people on the bus all about school. If I'm tired I try not to sit near her because I know she'll talk and talk and talk. However, I sit next to her all the time and she can turn my frown upside down in a matter of seconds. She's good at that. A child's enthusiasm is hard to ignore and it's extremely infectious. Everyone on the bus knows Emma.

Another passenger on the bus has no name but when she's there I sit with her. She often saves me a seat. She's about my age, has a job working for the city and we have a lot in common. We start a lot of our conversations with "when we were kids..." and then we laugh about how times have changed. She too grew up in Kingston so she knows what I mean when I say "the old traffic circle" or "the Sentry plaza".

I also occasionally bump into a woman I know from high school, Carolyn, who works for Kingston Transit and who always has a smile and a wave, even if the seat next to her is taken and I have to sit somewhere else alone.

So, while I look forward to having those quiet moments in my commute, what I've come to realize is that I have a bus family and I look forward to seeing them every day. And if I end up chatting about crayons with a little girl or talking about the latest movie with a nameless friend, that's okay because it's probably the best way to spend my quiet time.

The wheels on the bus go round and round.....

1 comment:

  1. You might enjoy this book -- I did, and I don't even have a bus family to relate it to. http://www.amazon.com/Riding-Bus-Sister-Rachel-Simon/dp/1455526169

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