Tuesday, September 5th

Blue sky, dusted with thin, layered clouds. The sun is present, but not too strong. By midday it will probably feel like full-blown summer.

8:16am

69 degrees.

N: Tell tale signs of train irregularity: tons of people on the platform and an outbound W train stranded between stations. I wonder how long those commuters had been waiting: I think 20 minutes is a good guess. But, lucky for me, I only had to wait a minute or two for an incredibly full train to arrive.

Once on the train, a woman beside me bent down to get something from her bag. She was little in the middle, but had much back, so I kept getting bumped. She started having a hard time reaching whatever she was trying to get and kept fussing and bumping me. Right as I started to get annoyed, another woman beside me looked down at her and said calmly, "Would you like me to hold that?"

L.A. face with and Oakland booty sighed a breath of relief, handed the stranger her large iced coffee and said, "That would be great."

My anger instantly melted. I was very moved and remembered that especially at a moment when I think I am being inconvenienced, it is important to remember others. A second later, the woman stood up and smiled and thanked the stranger again.

Then, as if that simple gesture had affected the others around me, without asking, my fellow commuters made room for me in anticipation of more people boarding when we arrived at what is normally the most crowded station.

7: Three rows of 7 train transfer commuters deep were waiting for us, as I calmly exited the train. I abandoned my position at the front of the train for the less crowded second car. Today I was early and it just didn't mean that much to me to have to ride in the front. Let others fight for it; today I am going to just get there when I get there.

G: A train arrived as I was heading down the stairs and as the tsumami of commuters swelled onto the platform, I was almost shoved onto the tracks by a frenzied, elderly Polish nurse.

"Get there when I get there..."

I got a seat, maybe not the one I wanted, but a seat none the less.