Bus ride?

When I was in college I would take classes in the morning and then go to work in the afternoon and then back to a class at night. 

That bus ride was heaven.  I wouldn't have to concentrate on anything but looking out the window. I loved that bus ride. I only had to pay parking at the college instead of both at the college and the meter on the street. Also I didn't have to drive. Just time for me to contemplate the immenseness of the universe . . . or not.

It was October and it was that drizzling type of rain. Not hard just enough to be damp. I was waiting for the bus to take me back to school. I need to tell you that there are 2 different buses that go the same place but they take 2 different routes and one of them takes an additional 10 minutes. Not too bad. Plus their numbers were really close together. I say this because on this day I got on the wrong bus. I wasn't paying attention and it said Sac State. So off I go or rather on the bus I embarked. 

It was FULL. Only 1 spot to sit and it was in the back of the bus. (Rosa Parks actually entered my mind but I quickly dismissed it as it didn't apply in this situation.) 

So I sat in the one spot there was. Just as I sat down and was swinging my heavy backpack off my shoulder the young man in front of me swung around and said with a very excited tone "Hi there!". Alarm bells immediately went off in my mind. A serious "uttt ohhh" was vibrating somewhere inside. Hoping to be wrong I replied with a nice but distant "Hi" and left it at that. 

Well that wasn't enough . . . no, not at all. He proceeded to tell me all about his life and family, etc. I did decide that he was probably mentally ill and was just released to his family. All throughout this bus ride I was looking out the window saying to myself "Why me?" "What did I do to deserve this?" "Really God I will be good after this. Honest!"  

I did respond to this young man periodically with an apparently attentive "I see." or "Un hunh."  or some other comment.  

Finally after what seemed an eternity - 20 minutes - it was his stop. Read - sigh of relief on my part. But no. One last "Oh nooooooo". He wants me to have his jacket because it's cold outside and raining and I didn't have one. I wanted to keep this jacket with him as he had only a t-shirt so I suggested that he take it and perhaps someone else might need it more than me. He looks out the window and see doesn't see anyone else. I throws the jacket over the seat in front of me and runs off the bus.

I cannot tell you how intense my feelings were. They equal parts relief, angry, tired, frustrated (that I couldn't do more) and overwhelmingly sad for this young man. Then amazingly enough grateful that I was there for some reason. 

I looked around the bus and there were about 3-4 people left on the bus. I never noticed anyone getting off the bus for some reason but it seem logical as I did somewhere in my haze of the ride know that he bus did make it's stops. The man behind me tapped me on the shoulder and all the tension from the ride came out and I not very nicely said "WHAT!!!!!!!" He took 2 steps back and then asked if I was going to use the jacket. I pretty much threw it at him sat "Here it's yours." 

As I got to school that night for my class, which was on counseling techniques, I was relaying my little journey to my classmates. All were awash in empathy for me. The instructor came in and said we had a change in the schedule and we would be discussing the "un hunh" technique of counseling. (There is a technical term but this this common description.) I had to laugh and then relayed my experience and received an A for my handling of the situation. 

Moral of this story is all things happen for a reason. I got on the wrong bus for a reason. I sat next this young man for a reason. Even my reluctance was for a reason. Just goes to show that the destination is not as important as the journey itself. I often reflect on this experience and am humbled again and again.