It's Like Amsterdam, But Cheaper And With More Wool

When I headed back to work outside the home last November, one thing that stressed me out was my commute. The idea of wrangling my daughter out the door on time, catching the bus from her school to the subway, and then making my way downtown gave me the cold sweats. How was I going to get this done? I know millions do it daily but I have trouble getting myself out the door on time, much less a child full of resistance. Thinking about it gives the shivers.

Lucky for me, my husband started working from home so I pawned that struggle off on him and he loves it. Something about exercise and getting to know her school chums, yadda yadda yadda ecetera. Whatever he loves about it, awesome, as long as I don't need to do it on a regular basis.

I know, I'm damn lucky but of course that has recently changed. I'm working modified hours and there really is no reason I can't take her to school a couple days of the week. Damn.

My first foray into getting her to school was this past Monday. After getting her stuff in the cubby, I ran out the door and across the street to catch the bus. This bus must be timed just right or it's a looooong walk to the subway. I was early so I decided to do what most in my position do when given a few extra minutes, Twitter.

There was company at the bus stop and let me tell you, it's a rare event when I can feel superior to those iPhone users. Here I was on my Blackberry, it was -30 before the windchill, and I had my gloves on while I scrolled and tweeted away. Let's ignore the fact that my gloves caused me to prematurely tweet all over the place, I could still tweet without losing digits to frostbite. Those iPhone users at the bus stop were either going to need a new set of hobo fingers OR amputations due to exposure to cold. Blackberry 1 iPhone 0.

Anyway. The bus came and based on my totally non-scientific research, bus people are different than subway people. It's subtle but the difference is there. As I squeezed myself into a seat somewhere in the middle of the bus (seriously, squeezing my polar explorer gear into the seat caused me to sit the entire ride with my shoulders touching my ears -- winter fashion fail), a couple of teens stood in front of me. These two proceeded to put on a prudent but still live sex-show for me and because I was stuck in my polar gear with limited range of motion, I COULD NOT LIVE TWEET IT. I know, you are disappointed, but here's the visual. She was small, wearing tights and Uggs and barely had her lower body covered. He was goofy and was wearing hammer pants. NO LIE. They both had tongues. It was one interesting way to start a Monday morning.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that I was a silly girl wearing tights and short skirts in -30 weather, putting fashion before frostbite. *sigh* Those were the days. Never put on a live no-sex show on the bus though, even I had limitations.

Anyway. There is no point to this post other than commuting is hard, teens have tongues, and for once, I feel superior about my Blackberry over the iPhone. Booyah.


BTW, I'm also guest posting over at the lovely Emma Waverman's Embrace the Chaos about having an only child and the questions it brings. Questions that I throw back at people's heads if I just had a faster mouth and a lot more nerve.