Monday, June 7, 2010

The people on the bus

I took the bus today. Not a big deal in and of itself but for a dork like me, it is.
I had been thinking about it for quite some time. I even bought one of those bus pass cards. I bought it before the kids were born and it has been collecting dust on my shelf. Until today.

My Jeep is the only car that can hold 2 car seats. DH has a truck. A truck that I loathe. A truck that I cannot drive because of the ridiculous way it was designed. And it was not designed for short people. I have to adjust the seat all the way up to the steering wheel, then the back has to be angled at a 45 degree angle and I sit on a pillow. When I look over my left shoulder to check for traffic, I can't see anything. Nothing. I don't see oncoming traffic from the left side because of the stupid safety belt device and the door blocks my view. I know this makes no sense but trust me when I say, the whole left side is a blind side. This is why I have to lean the seat back so I can see out of the back window.

When I say I loathe this car, it is an understatement. I cannot stand this truck. I ask him if we can sell it and get a bigger family car, he refuses and says he needs to haul stuff around. Well, if we get a bigger car, he can haul the kids around and haul stuff around. But he is steadfast. So now, if something were to happen to the Jeep, we would not be able to take the kids anywhere. We would be stuck until we bought a car. This scare me because my car is slowly dying and I don not want us to be stuck without a means for us to take the kids anywhere.

But does he listen to me and plan ahead? Of course not, he likes to wait until something happens before he will deal with it. But I digress.

So I have decided to take the bus. I spent all last week online, planning my bus trips. I kid you not when I say all week. I have 2 people in my department who ride the bus and I kept bugging them to interpret all the routes and transfers and times and locations. I was really stressing. I printed several routes as plans B, C and D. I had a traumatic experience many years ago and have been nervous about it ever since.

I was a goob this morning. Weather.com said it was going to rain all week so I debated taking the bus. I don't want to be stuck out in the rain waiting for a ride. But at the last minute, I decided to do it. I rushed over to the part and ride and found my bus to downtown. I got on, said good morning to the driver and asked him what to do with my card. He gave me a look to which I replied, this is my first time. I found a seat next to a gentleman hugging his backpack to his chest. After several awkward minutes of both of us clutching our belongings and trying not to touch legs, I asked him some questions about riding the bus. He said he sometimes hitches rides with people who want to take the HOV lane. I couldn't believe that folks would drive to the station looking for people to hitch with but to each his own. He said if was free for him and he takes the bus home. He said he had done that for years and had not had a problem. I mean what if I got in the front passenger seat and the driver tried to stab me. What if I was in the backseat and another passenger tried to stab me. Or what if I was in the back seat and someone hiding in the trunk, tried to stab me through the seat. It was all too much to think about on my first day on the bus.

1 comments:

Xtina said...

I blame all of this on mom.