I'm Free!

I'm Free!!! Summer at last! I bid my sweet friends good bye and closed down the room... It hasn't hit. I have gotten so used to the school year schedule. But soon, Seth will be getting up for work and I'll probably get up too for coffee and days of freedom! And maybe I'll sleep in or go back to bed, and I will be able to make that choice. I will not be a slave to Mr. Alarm Clock for the rest of summer!

Right now I'm sitting in the airport... Sitting against the wall with things plugged in and charging for our trip. I knew where to find the outlets. I've found myself sitting against the wall many times in the past (one of the last was a year and a half ago when Paula and I were praying our flight would pass quickly and get us home before the wee hours of the morning... we were exhausted and tired, and she was terribly sick... I was newly engaged and heading back to work the very next morning...)

My trip to the airport was another story to add to my book. I took the train down to 125th to catch the M60 bus. I wasn't worried about it. I rode the M60 (from Queens instead of Manhattan) to the airport before. Then I came above ground, stood for a bit in the heat (where did this hot summer day come from? Then again, it beats the 100+ degree weather back home in the Midwest and the rain we've been having non-stop that last few months). Traffic was completely backed up, the bus stop was packed, buses were coming, but none were the M60. The air was filled with anxiety, watching for buses. Finally, M60. It pulls up, stops before it gets to the normal bus stop area. People run, the bus is loaded. No one gets off, people are shoving to get on. Then the driver cuts the line off. Two people literally jump into the bus and shove their way in as the doors are closing. One of those two gets separated from her family and her bag. The driver lets her out, as there was No Way the rest of the family was getting on that bus. Curses and curses... I look around to see what my solution will be. I still have time.

Then, in the middle of NYC, a city of strangers, I find 3 friends. Three people who are obviously in the same boat as me... heading for the airport, desperate for transportation, filled with anxiety. We bond. We don't exchange names. We decide to walk to the next bus stop. Traffic is so backed up that we walk faster than the bus moves. A car service car pulls up, offers a ride for an amount that was a bit outrageous. I tell him no. I hope that I don't regret that... I have time, my fellow travelers are a bit more strapped for time. We keep walking on towards the stop just to see the bus pass without stopping. No ones getting off, no one can be squeezed on more. I head for the corner, trying to find an empty taxi. Finally a taxi van... Driver shakes his head no. We continue to wave at him... He pulls up, pulls over, says he'll take us but only to one stop. We don't care. Just get us to the airport.

We bond some more... 3 young women, one middle aged man. We connect as we discuss the Twilight series, similar jobs, flight destinations. Upon arriving at the airport, and yes, the driver was true to his word, even when offered a bigger tip, he only took us to one terminal, so we divided, two heading to the terminal we were dropped at, and myself and another heading towards the next terminal.

A New York City adventure... The distance from my work to the airport is a little over 5 miles. That's such a short distance to my Midwest self, but to my New York self, it's a complicated long journey. My group and I made it to our flights, and tonight, we'll all hopefully make it safely to our final destinations. We never exchanged names. We'll never see each other again, but today, we all joined together for a quick adventure in our City!