Last fall and winter were bad times for me. I was plugging away at a job I didn't like, commuting way too far to get there, and having a rough time at home. Things started to change a little when I got a call completely out of the blue from a company in NYC. They wanted me to come in for an interview. I went, the interview went incredibly, the company was impressive, and suddenly there was a tiny break in the dark clouds. I took the job in March and began to commute to NYC every day via NJ Transit bus.
The job was great. It was a long day, leaving for the city at 6:15 am and returning at 7:30 pm, but I loved the work, the people i worked with were great and I felt like I was going somewhere. This improved my mood a little and things got a little better. Unfortunately though, the situation at home had not improved and had actually gotten worse. I did my best to plunge myself into work and focused on the happiness I had found in my new job.
After some weeks of commuting, I noticed a young woman on the bus who looked hauntingly familiar. I could not figure out where I knew her from, but I was certain that I knew her. I noticed she would occasionally take the early bus or I would end up on the late bus which put us on the same bus together every once in a while. These shared commutes were very infrequent and there really were no opportunities to ask where I might know her from. Besides, she always appeared to be in a rush, or a mood, or she ended up sitting too far away to start a conversation, not that I would have had the guts to do so anyway. One day, this young lady ended up taking the empty seat to my left, unfortunately because I'm deaf in my left ear I wouldn't have been able to hear a word she said anyway, had she decided to say something. It was at this point that I resigned myself to the fact that I'd probably never figure out where I knew her from. I stopped noticing her as often as I had before and put her out of my mind.
So now we find ourselves at June 2nd, the weather was nice and I was looking forward to putting up some blog posts on the trip home, plus, the seat next to me was empty on my otherwise full bus. The last person to get on was the young lady whom I had just about forgotten, the young lady who I just couldn't place, and she was sitting down next to me (on my right side no less!). The bus driver that afternoon was particularly chatty and she made a comment about it, to which I answered with an uncertain "yeah". My brain was doing backflips trying to figure out how to ask this girl where I knew her from, without coming across like a creepy guy on the bus, using a line on her. It was just then that my brain rammed my mouth into gear and "did you used to work on the boardwalk?" came out and hung between us in an uncomfortable way. My panicking brain had just began to work through how I could break the window and run for the hills when she said "uh yeah" in an uncertain way. As my brain screamed "HOLY SHIT! AN OPENING! REVERSE TRAJECTORY!" I asked if she knew some people I knew from back then who worked there and she did. For months I couldn't figure it out, then suddenly it all came together. We had actually hung out a couple times with mutual friends and actually worked on the same street. I had a kid-crush on her back then and never said anything to anyone about it, because everyone I knew who knew her back then apparently had one too.
Once my brain had calmed down and stopped hyperventilating, we talked about what we had been up to in the 13 years since we had seen each other. the conversation was easy and before I knew it we were at her stop and she got off the bus. Over the next couple of weeks, we would see each other sporadically on the bus. when we could, we'd sit together and talk about our lives and interests and just general stuff. I was happy, I had made a bus friend and it made my afternoon commute much better. She knew my situation and it really helped me to be able to talk to someone about what was going on.
I moved out of my house on July 2nd and next day I needed to blow off some steam. I decided to meet my bus friend and some of her friends to see the fireworks. I knew she would be there and I decided to go and surprise her and maybe grab a drink. I pinged her that I was there and she excitedly came to meet me. She was totally surprised that I would go out of my way to meet her. We had a the best time just hanging out and talking. It was exactly what I needed. It turned out to be our first date.
After this, we became inseparable. We connected with each other and communicated on a level that I never thought was possible. Needless to say, we fell in love. Actually, we didn't really "fall" in love, we just kind of both realized we were there. I've since been invited to and moved into her place and we have started a life together that has so far been nothing short of spectacular. We have amazing times together no matter what we do, whether it's walking to the bus together every afternoon, traveling to other cities to see concerts, driving aimlessly through Pennsylvania, or watching movies together with beers in hand. On my birthday this year, she tracked down my closest friends (whom she'd never met) and got us all together for dinner, something that hasn't happened in the better part of a decade.
She has become the center of my world, and I hers.
The thought of what the future will bring us makes me so excited I could explode, and none of this would have happened if I didn't do the best thing I ever did: ask the girl on the bus if she ever worked on the boardwalk.
Location:W 42nd St,New York,United States
