I was thinking about a conversation I had on my way to work this morning.

I ride the bus into Seattle every morning-  my route is called the Commuter Bus. The Commuter Bus is like the School Bus revisted so there’s the cool kids, the loner kids and the loser kids.

I fall between the last two, so I keep to myself.

This morning this guy gets on the bus, and you know he’s fallen on hard times and he sort of smelled like stale beer. When he passed me he said hello like he knew me and then apologized because he’d mistaken me for someone else.

( sure ).

So we start talking about where he’s headed for the day and then he starts to tell me about his job and how he has some family issues to deal with.

You know sometimes you can just see that someone needs to talk? They just want for someone to know they’re here.

So I start to talk to him and as we’re talking Miss America who blesses us with her attitude and presense every morning,  leans across the aisle to where one of the other Cool Kids,  (I mean Commuter)  is sitting from her and she’s making fun of me and this guy.

To his credit the other Cool Kid (I mean commuter) ignores her and she sits back and shuts her mouth for the rest of the trip.

So this guy goes into detail about his job as a Flagger ( he directs traffic when the roads are under construction ) and he’s into it. He told me about the tree types of flags they use. How some flaggers are actually scared of traffic and cars and how some people are just not into the job.

He obviously is.

Now I thought this was interesting because I see these guys all the time and I never really thought about what it was like to be out there. I never realized that there was drama an excitement out there along side the road…and I should have.

So I let him talk and it was a good trip, it was a fun talk and time well spent. He made me forget I wasn’t one of the Cool Kids ( I mean Commuter ) that sits alone in the back of the bus and waits for the trip to be over every morning.

When I got off the bus Miss America looks up at me with a frown and gives her long blond hair a toss as I walk by.

Oh  I almost forgot…it was a satisfying trip too.