out-of-character behavior yields surprising rewards
Having no car brings about certain challenges. Not knowing how to get from A to B without a map is made a lot easier with the appropriately picked app, but using that app for the first time leaves me with a certain hesitancy as I'm getting going.
This doubt was noticed by some fellow temple goers this evening as I was getting ready to reverse public transit my way back home. The door opened, and a teenage girl of a family of 4 not dressed in their temple best asked if I needed a ride somewhere. I laughingly approached the car, and said a combination of statements and questions such as: "uh, maybe, wait, where are you guys from," "this is crazy," "this is so nice of you," and "well, I guess you could drop me off at my bus stop since it's just down the road."
{Readers please note that this was somewhat out of character for me. With my choice to not have a car in Boston, I've also chosen to not actively accept or bother other people to drive me around, so my usual response to this family would have been, "no, it's ok, but thank you very much" with no further discussion. However, something inside me told me to fight that and just accept the service that was being rendered. I am so bad at that, accepting nice things when I am obviously in need. So this was a choice to see how I would fare from going along with it.}
Hilarity soon ensued.
We saw my bus up ahead. The dad (who was driving) asked if it was mine. I said "yeah, but it's ok because another one is coming." But he said that we would catch it and that waiting for another one in the cold would be too long! But the bus was driving too fast! Reaching a traffic circle the bus went one way and we were supposed to go another so instead we went around twice in a traffic circle. He found the bus again and tailed it, and it wasn't stopping at any of the stops! So then he put on more speed hoping to pass it - and it got into a turn left only lane and we were in the lane next to it. However, this was not an obstacle as the just pulled into the intersection in front of the bus. His wife remarked "Oh, so that's how we're going to drive." So we turned and the bus turned and tried to get it to stop at a stop by slowing down, but the bus (which I think thought we were some crazy car) just swerved back around us and went on it's way. We were defeated, however, I said that the T-stop was really close, so we decided to drop me off there. Getting to the T-stop was a much calmer ride. Despite the hilarity, we did get in some small talk. These are the things I learned:
The family was on vacation.
They had just gone to look at the temple grounds and were headed back for a late light dinner having already had a very large late lunch.
The city and state where they were from.
The dad/father hated organic chemistry.
This was really one of the nicest families ever! This short adventurous trip was a highlight of my week. They were so friendly and actually seemed to be having a fun time maneuvering around Boston. As I said thank you and left and (because this is what I do) apologized for sabotaging their evening, the wife/mom laughed and said "no, thank you for breaking up the monotony of Boston traffic."
Love, love, love.
I already googled them on the internet and a thank you card will be in the mail by tomorrow - might even beat them home. In my future, I so want to be this family.
Finally, I learned a short mini life lesson from this. It's more than okay to sometimes accept a favor and it was really fun to hear about them and their vacation and night. It was maybe a 10-15 min trip, but I think that might have made a difference in their vacation and I know it made a difference in my week maybe more which sounds totally cliche. This time though, it feels truer than truth.
This doubt was noticed by some fellow temple goers this evening as I was getting ready to reverse public transit my way back home. The door opened, and a teenage girl of a family of 4 not dressed in their temple best asked if I needed a ride somewhere. I laughingly approached the car, and said a combination of statements and questions such as: "uh, maybe, wait, where are you guys from," "this is crazy," "this is so nice of you," and "well, I guess you could drop me off at my bus stop since it's just down the road."
{Readers please note that this was somewhat out of character for me. With my choice to not have a car in Boston, I've also chosen to not actively accept or bother other people to drive me around, so my usual response to this family would have been, "no, it's ok, but thank you very much" with no further discussion. However, something inside me told me to fight that and just accept the service that was being rendered. I am so bad at that, accepting nice things when I am obviously in need. So this was a choice to see how I would fare from going along with it.}
Hilarity soon ensued.
We saw my bus up ahead. The dad (who was driving) asked if it was mine. I said "yeah, but it's ok because another one is coming." But he said that we would catch it and that waiting for another one in the cold would be too long! But the bus was driving too fast! Reaching a traffic circle the bus went one way and we were supposed to go another so instead we went around twice in a traffic circle. He found the bus again and tailed it, and it wasn't stopping at any of the stops! So then he put on more speed hoping to pass it - and it got into a turn left only lane and we were in the lane next to it. However, this was not an obstacle as the just pulled into the intersection in front of the bus. His wife remarked "Oh, so that's how we're going to drive." So we turned and the bus turned and tried to get it to stop at a stop by slowing down, but the bus (which I think thought we were some crazy car) just swerved back around us and went on it's way. We were defeated, however, I said that the T-stop was really close, so we decided to drop me off there. Getting to the T-stop was a much calmer ride. Despite the hilarity, we did get in some small talk. These are the things I learned:
The family was on vacation.
They had just gone to look at the temple grounds and were headed back for a late light dinner having already had a very large late lunch.
The city and state where they were from.
The dad/father hated organic chemistry.
This was really one of the nicest families ever! This short adventurous trip was a highlight of my week. They were so friendly and actually seemed to be having a fun time maneuvering around Boston. As I said thank you and left and (because this is what I do) apologized for sabotaging their evening, the wife/mom laughed and said "no, thank you for breaking up the monotony of Boston traffic."
Love, love, love.
I already googled them on the internet and a thank you card will be in the mail by tomorrow - might even beat them home. In my future, I so want to be this family.
Finally, I learned a short mini life lesson from this. It's more than okay to sometimes accept a favor and it was really fun to hear about them and their vacation and night. It was maybe a 10-15 min trip, but I think that might have made a difference in their vacation and I know it made a difference in my week maybe more which sounds totally cliche. This time though, it feels truer than truth.
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