Week Four

It was dicey this week. Wednesday is usually my train day because I have lots of meetings but no classes, and I can usually make the day a little shorter.

But yesterday my first meeting started at 10 a.m., and my last one didn't end until 7 p.m. If I were going to take the train to work, that meant getting up at six so I could get out the door at 7 -- just as The Offspring is waking up -- and then not getting home again until 10:30 p.m., long after the boy's bedtime.

So I drove. It took me more than two hours. Which was only a little longer than it took the previous day. So in two days, I spent well over an extra hour trapped behind the steering wheel. And I had stuff to read for classes today, and I just couldn't face getting in the car again.

So after my last meeting yesterday, I walked the two miles to the train station in New Jersey. I got on the train and looked out the window: STORM! Impressive lightning and lots of rain. I looked at my dry-clean-only clothing and wondered about the likelihood of actually getting a cab at the World Trade Center, at the other end of the commute.

(No: no umbrella, no rain gear. I hadn't thought that far ahead.)

But when I got off the train in Manhattan, it was just drizzling. So I carefully folded up my blazer and tucked it into my backpack and started walking toward the subway stop. It stopped raining altogether within five minutes, so I just went ahead and walked the two miles home.

Oh, and I got most of the reading done on the way home, and finished on the train on the way back to school this morning. All of that left me feeling much better than I feel after a drive. And the timing of the rain storm left me feeling a little charmed.