That takes us back a little further in time. How far, I'm not sure (since I don't blog nearly as much as I intended to), but somewhere between 10 months and 2 years. A man around my age became a regular on one of the buses I took in the morning. What caught my attention is that he brought his bike ON the bus (that's a no-no). However, he could get away with this because his bike folded up. He stepped onto the bus, folded up his bicycle, and tucked it neatly under the bus seat. That evening I shared the news with Craig (and since Craig has a near eidetic memory for anything bicycle-related, he may be more successful at identifying when this story began).
After seeing the foldable-bicycle man several times and seeing that he would be a regular, I struck up a conversation with him about his bicycle. He bought the foldable bicycle because he was perpetually frustrated with how frequently the bike racks were full. If the bike racks are full, you have to wait for the next bus. Eventually our conversations evolved past bicycles and buses, but they were never long. He boarded the bus only 2 miles before my stop. By the fall of 2012 we had used our little 2 mile conversations to learn a little about each others' jobs, our significant others, and other little tidbits. Our names never came up. On our final bus ride together, we somehow got on the subject of programming and I mentioned Craig's new toy, a Raspberry Pi. Foldable-bicyle man's eyes lit up so brightly that I knew he and Craig needed to meet. It was time to bring our bus acquaintanceship to the next level. Alas, my stop had approached and I barely had time to say goodbye, let along tie up the loose ends of our conversation.
And then foldable-bicycle man disappeared. Weeks passed without a single sighting of the foldable bike and I eventually accepted that I may never see him again. If it weren't for a chance meeting near a restaurant I'd never gone before, that would have been the case.
*****
"Hey!" he shouted. I turned to the shouting, recognized him and quickly ran over to him and his wife. "Sorry for shouting at you," he said, "I realized I don't know your name." And so we exchanged names and other pleasantries. He introduced me to his wife. I learned that he (gasp!) started driving to work. And this time, without the threat of an upcoming bus stop, I took the time to get his contact information so that we could see each other again. I'm so happy I did this, because we've already had several fun get-togethers since then. These two turned out to be great people. I knew it for sure when we began planning a dinner and game night:
Me: Feel free to bring any games you might want to play. Craig and I have a few favorites that we always want to teach everyone, but we can certainly keep our options open.
Oh, just a side note: We have 2 cats; if you dislike cats/are allergic to cats let me know. We can try to minimize their allergens for you.
Foldable-bicycle man: As for the cats, seeing that we have four feline furry faces of our own... we should be okay on the allergy part. (I swear, we are not cat people.) I'll bring Settlers of Catan, one of our favorites too.
Cats and games... it was meant to be.
And then foldable-bicycle man disappeared. Weeks passed without a single sighting of the foldable bike and I eventually accepted that I may never see him again. If it weren't for a chance meeting near a restaurant I'd never gone before, that would have been the case.
*****
"Hey!" he shouted. I turned to the shouting, recognized him and quickly ran over to him and his wife. "Sorry for shouting at you," he said, "I realized I don't know your name." And so we exchanged names and other pleasantries. He introduced me to his wife. I learned that he (gasp!) started driving to work. And this time, without the threat of an upcoming bus stop, I took the time to get his contact information so that we could see each other again. I'm so happy I did this, because we've already had several fun get-togethers since then. These two turned out to be great people. I knew it for sure when we began planning a dinner and game night:
Me: Feel free to bring any games you might want to play. Craig and I have a few favorites that we always want to teach everyone, but we can certainly keep our options open.
Oh, just a side note: We have 2 cats; if you dislike cats/are allergic to cats let me know. We can try to minimize their allergens for you.
Foldable-bicycle man: As for the cats, seeing that we have four feline furry faces of our own... we should be okay on the allergy part. (I swear, we are not cat people.) I'll bring Settlers of Catan, one of our favorites too.
Cats and games... it was meant to be.
