Somehow the memories came back to me like a long-lost dream, a distant land and time. With all of the to dos, busyness, and stresses thinking about a past time was inspiring, with a mint of distraction.
I could envision the time, the place, the experiences of riding on the bus. I would do it daily for a chunk of two years. It was how I got around, commuted and first experiences of early college making my way, meeting people, and adjusting, a lot. It was also the place for my own thoughts, and observations, and liking the slowness and looking out the window, to also eventually craving a quicker way to get to point A to point B.
It was especially where I met people from my college, my new school, and bigger stomping grounds. I would make more effort (and courage) in talking to people just because they sat near me and they were also a student. Or seeing people I didn't necessarily want to talk to or be in close corridors with, that was just the norm and something I had to deal with taking public transit on the regular. It was full of the public and all that that brings.
I got really used to it all, with carrying my books and extra things. I also remember carrying my art supplies when I took a drawing class. I had a whole art bag to carrying around each week. I felt like a good candidate for having a car with all the stuff I was lugging around. Soon enough, my younger brother was willing to share with me twice a week the ancient wheels that were still in our family after two older siblings owning and driving it years prior, and now us younger siblings. Sometimes it was embarrassing to drive with all the old-fashioned details, but at least it provided good hands-on driving exposure that I desperately needed and wanted. Until eventually, I got a car of my own my last semester and life couldn't be better.
As mentioned, taking the bus was a form of perspective. I enjoyed observing and seeing various people enter and exit the bus. Not knowing but somehow making up their schedule, their lives. I would see a girl about my age enter the bus after her work shift at Target. She had long hair, sometimes loosely half up half down style, feathered earrings, and I'm sure she was glad to be done with her shift.
I met and became acquaintances and friends with some of the people who were also students on the bus. I mentioned one of my friends in this blog post. I took the bus with some people from when I was doing Student Government and we would easily talk about the 'politics' of it all, the drama, the happenings and people we knew. Taking the bus was normal and part of our culture, part of our day.
Sometimes I would read, or pray, but mostly listen to music on my old-fashioned iPod, and later on talk to the contacts I was beginning to meet and befriend. I have fond memories of those days. It feels like ages ago, so distant, yet still distant like sweet summer days and popsicle-colored sunsets. The flavor and joy are still in my mouth.
