When I said I was embarking on a new adventure, I guess I kind of lied. I mean, it wasn't just me embarking on it. I guess I should have specified that my husband and I were both embarking on it together. But I kind of didn't realize it would end up that way. Neither did he, until that first morning, when I called him at 5:45 am asking where the caltrain station was again cuz I'd forgotten to jot the address down, and I didn't quite trust the GPS to know exactly (though it did, we found out). Or the next morning wondering whether he thought I had time to actually make it to the train or not cuz I was running pretty late. Isn't it nice that we get to do something cool together like this? I keep trying to persuade him that this what couples are supposed to do, share in each other's experiences. You know, cuz we're married now. I think he'd be more convinced if this particular experience didn't involve him being woken up before the crack of dawn, but I'm guessing he'll come around eventually.
So far, commuting has only been sort of successful. The biggest problem is that I run perpetually late. Oh, usually about 5 minutes or so. Always. Everywhere. Which is usually ok, except when you're trying to catch a train that leaves exactly at 6:07 or 7:05. I think of all the days that I've tried to take the train, I've missed it more days than I've caught it. Once, I got lucky and they held the train for me! I came running up, dropping my lunch, and struggling to get on. And felt kind of proud that I'd made it. Until the conductor swung by a few minutes later and told me they decided to wait for me. They saw the whole thing - me losing my tuppeware lunch container, me jumping over some wall-type thing in heels and a skirt, me struggling with the ticket machine. Awesome.
Other days, I've been close but leaning towards not making it, and G tells me (when I call him to confer) that I should just go up to the next station and catch the train there. It's a tough call because by the time I get off the freeway and try to make it to the first train station, I lose valuable freeway time and lower my chances of making it to the next station in time, too. So making the decision about whether to go for the Gilroy station anyway or not is crucial. I have this picture of myself driving along the train tracks racing the train to the next stop, but so far, I've resisted and just decided to drive the whole way when I've missed the first one. Yesterday, I pulled up into the parking lot just as the train was leaving. The day before yesterday, I didn't even think I had a shot and never exited the freeway.
Some days, I've been torn about whether to drive or not and ended up making the right call to drive. A few weeks ago, I debated a bit in the morning, actually woke up early and just didn't feel like waiting for the train. So I decided to drive, and man, was I glad that I did. That afternoon, as I was heading home, I heard that two trains had collided into each other (AND later, some one tried to jump in front of a train to commit suicide -- yup, wasting everybody's time with their misery, great, huh?) so Caltrain was running an hour to an hour and a half late in both directions!! That was a close one. I'm pretty sure I would have hated waiting around on a Fri afternoon, and G would have had to prove again what a joint adventure this all is by picking me up from San Jose. Though I have this feeling that he wouldn't have done it. Cuz he doesn't really value our marriage like I do. Fortunately, I was whizzing down the freeway in my car already by this point, so it never got to that.
I heard that a similar thing happened on another morning not long after. Again, a morning when I just didn't feel like waiting around.
So come to think of it, maybe this whole public transportation thing is working out just fine after all.
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