public transportation

So another week begins. A little unusual for me: I wake up in Chicago and I hurry to the El so that I can catch the early bus to Madison.

I’m going against the traffic. The people on the other side are heading downtown. My bus leaves from the airport.





I think how luxurious it is to be so completely relying on public transportation. On the El, I close my eyes and let myself go limp as the train sways one way then the other. Then, on the bus to Madison, I open up my breakfast (granola bar, banana, coffee) and take out my computer and get to work. The sun, streaming to my right, is pale, in the way that morning suns are, but so very lovely. It’s doing its job well – much of the snow in southern Wisconsin is melting.

Monday is a long day for me. I don’t end classes until most everyone in the building has left for the day. But it’s not dark outside when I leave the law school. On the busride home I close my eyes again and exhale. Everyone should be so lucky as to have a bus pick them up and carry them home. Almost to the doorstep.

Lovely rides. Someone drives, I review the day and think about the next hour. I’m almost sorry when my stop is the next one and I have to make my way to the exit.