Day 5 of Happiness: Bus Friends

Living two hours from where I work is not ideal.  Leaving to catch the commuter bus at 6:30am only to arrive at work at 8:20am, is not fun.  What's worse is leaving work at 4:55pm and arriving home at 7pm.  Things might be different if I were being transported on a magic carpet, in a limo, or a hot air balloon.  But no, I am riding the crowded, stuffy commuter bus - which is a step up from the city bus but a step down from the Greyhound, on the comfortability scale.  When I initially got my job, I took the train.  Now, doesn't that sound luxurious.  The Train.  Not so, acutally.  Although the train was more comfortable, it was less reliable and actually took MORE time than the bus.

So, what does this nonsense about commuting and buses have to do with anything?  Well, my spot of happiness for today is my bus friends.  Yes, one can make friends on the bus.  I wouldn't say that these friends have turned out to be amazing soul mates and that we have sleep overs and watch movies all night long, but they are a bright spot in the dullness of commuting.

I've gotten to know a few of my fellow commuters and it turns out, everyone is pretty interesting - and we're all connected in odd ways.

• The first guy I met happened to work for the Peace Corps.  Yup, and you know my love of all things Peace Corps.  So, I find out really great Peace Corps gossip from him.  Plus, he's interested in my Peace Corps stories and always asks about my "Third Goal" aka Ivan.  
• The next guy I met was Greek.  Well, whaddya know, I'm a Greek citizen too!  Ok, so that was pretty much all I could relate to since I was born in Greece and left by the time I was two and have never been back.  But, we definitely had a connection.  Unfortunately this guy turned out to be WAY to talkative and I soon found myself dreading the occassion when he woudl sit next to me.  There was absolutely no escaping his conversation - if I was reading, he interrupeted, if I was watching/listening to my ipod, he interrupted, if I pretended to sleep, he interrupted.  I'm happy to say I haven't seen him for a while. 
• The third guy I met worked for a non-profit and had done a lot of work in Honduras.  I love Honduras.  My fiance is Honduran.  Many things to talk about there.  This guy is so friendly he yells hello to me from the back of the bus line (yes, us commuters are so civilized that we actually line up for the bus).
• Another bus friend is a woman who works for a bank.  We don't actually have any connections, come to think of it, but we have great conversations.  I recently found out she has MS, so I'm hoping for the best for her.  She's really nice and fun to talk to.  We always like to complain about the strange woman who drives up to the bus stop, runs out of her car to set her bag down in the line, and then waits in her car until the bus comes.  Commuters can be strange.  I myself am normal, of course.
  
• My most talkative bus friend is this guy who also works at a bank.  He has a wife and two adorable children and complains about commuting all the time.  I am actually still a newbie since I've only been taking the bus for one year - some of these people have been riding the commuter bus for over 7 years.  Talk about dedicated.  What's great about him is he's super interested in the HIV work I do so I can inform him of many HIV facts.  I love it.  Plus, since we've talked enough, we usually chat for about 10 minutes and then both zonk out.  I mean, the only good thing about commuting is being able to sleep on the bus.
  
• My newest bus friend is a girl about my age (amazing!  most commuters are twice my age - i guess living in the suburbs is not what young people do).  We had a LONG conversation about the Greek guy (see second bullet).  Apparently the guy had done the same thing to her and she was SOOOO relieved when he started sitting next to me. Funny stuff.  She recommends great bus movies to watch on my ipod.  She also loves to walk so we both get off about ten blocks from our office so we can get a short walk in before settling down in front of the commuter for 8 hours.
  

I think those are all of my bus friends.  It's amazing how nice the majority of commuter bus people are.  The guy in the first bullet has invited me to golf (I have politely declined because it feels strange for me to golf with a 50 yr old married man), I've seen some of the others around town and have chatted with them (so I guess we can be friends outside of the bus line), and nice things like that.  I guess what I really like about this is that I feel like I know a few more people from the community.  I live in a big town, I hardly know anyone.  In Honduras I knew my entire town and love it.  It always makes me happy when I feel like I'm becoming more entwined in the community (but of course I'll probably move shortly after, right!).

As Albert Schweitzer said, "In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.  It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.  We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

Making new friends, rekindles my inner spirit.