Never fall asleep on public transportation.
That may sound like a common sense bit of advice, but it really is something that needs saying. Or maybe it just needs saying to me, because of course I've done just that. Now this has to be maybe two years ago? But I've said time and time again that I let things like these bother me for years, which is the truth here.
I ride the bus to Atlanta. Have been since I was a freshman, so I like to think I'm an expert at it.
The bus system, while handy in that I don't have to drive the highway, it's pretty crummy how it only runs up to 8 in the morning than comes back around four in the afternoon. My sophomore year, I had a class only in the morning, so I was pretty stoked to find out that a bus came around 10 to pick up from Atlanta. It dropped off at a stop near my sister's house, so she offered to pick me up.
First time taking that route and posh co-ed that I am, I actually missed it, mostly because I got the stop wrong and trying to figure out which side of the road the bus will be on is pretty tricky. So I missed it. No big. I could hang around school. I called Sam and told her what happened and she said she could still pick me up at the next one, which was at 1. One isn't such a bad time to be picked up. It's still earlier than 4 anyway.
And I got that one! I made that bus like the cool kid that I thought I was, only, I was so sleepy on the ride. I mean, after I missed that first bus, I have to admit, that an emotional wave took over, mainly because I didn't just miss it. I really missed it. Like I ran after the bus when people were piling in and then chased it down the block, much to my embarrassment. So I think all that hope just lost made me very vulnerable. Emotionally racked, I could barely keep my eyes open on the bus over, so I did the unthinkable. I fell asleep.
And I woke up to my cell ringing and my sister asking me if I was on the bus because she was there and saw it, but she didn't see me. Fresh from sleep, I looked around and nothing looked familiar. I told her I'd be there soon probably.
Turns out not. That stop when she called me? Yeah, that was it. She was there. I, never having used that stop before, didn't recognize it. So I was stuck in a nowhere land. I remember this kid looking at me pityingly because I think he knew my predicament. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction so I walked away from the Park and Ride, down a busy thoroughfare, and found myself at a McDonalds. I called everyone I knew from the same area to see if they could help, but no one was free. I finally called Sam to tell her about my stupidity.
This is when I broke down. I started to bawl at a McDonald's. And to play it off and earn my keep at my seat, crying my eyes out, I bought fries off the dollar menu. I think the worker didn't really know what to do with me. I would have these moments of clarity where I would laugh at the foolishness that got me there, then I would just start shaking as I tried to covertly cry around all the construction workers around me. Sam finally found me*. She offered to buy me lunch, but I just wanted out of there.
And just my luck, I got home at 4.
*Sam later on told me how she was trying not to cry because she had to drive the highway and got lost trying to find me. That's sisterly devotion for you. We can't stop laughing about this ridiculousness now.
