flat tire

I had a lovely weekend. Well, almost. The beginning of my weekend proved to be very relaxing and fun. I came to NY on Friday night, and spent some quality time with two of my best friends. I saw my parents Saturday. We went to the mall to buy my Dad walking shoes. I feel I must re-emphasize how much I LOVE SUBURBIA. I love the mall. After picking up some walking shoes, we drove on over to the movies and saw Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Two thumbs up from me! Two thumbs down from Mom & Dad. Two thumbs up and four thumbs down. Which I guess boils down to two thumbs down. Damn arithmetic!)

Sunday we went to the mall again. What luck! After the mall my Dad dropped me off so that I could catch the bus back to Boston. It was at that moment that all the goodness of the weekend stopped accumulating.

Given my excessive blogging about the bus, I will keep this short. There were 2 buses: one at 6:00 PM and one at 6:30 PM. I was on line to board the 6:30 PM. The woman shoving everyone onto the 6:00 PM suddenly yelled: "Room for one more on this one! Room for one more! Come quick!"

Here is where I failed to think through my decision. I grabbed my bag and ran to the first bus.

Now, many of you probably would have thought about this, but I let my excitement about getting on an earlier bus get to me. Which seat would obviously be the unclaimed seat on the bus? That's right. The one next to the bathroom. And next to a ... let me say euphemistically ... unclean and unkempt middle aged man. Even so, I was pleased with the fact that I would get home 30 minutes earlier.

The ride was relatively smooth and stinky, until we were about 30 miles from Boston. When we got a flat tire. Our bus driver told us nothing for 45 minutes, until suddenly he said that another bus is coming to get "some" of us. Which bus? That's right. The 6:30 bus which I was originally supposed to be on. Mind you, that bus was FULL. Those of us who got on had to stand in the middle of the bus for 40 minutes until we got home.

It was quite an adventure, but luckily I made it home without further complications. I can't help but appreciate the irony of the situation. Patience, my friends, is definitely a virtue.