Sunday, October 12, 2008

Everyday Weirdness?

My friend Mariandy wrote about weird things that have happened to her in her life in her entry "Everyday Weirdness". Check out the picture she took while driving home.

In her entry, she asks, "what are the weird things that have happened to us?". Hmmm......what are the weird things that have happened to me? All the things that come to mind are not necessarily weird, but they are memorable.

Like when I was 21 and in New York City for the first time. It was 1985, and I ended up on the subway with a gunman at some odd hour in the middle of the night. I remember that first trip to New York so well, because it was at a time when there were a lot of riots in New York City, the Times Square area hadn't been cleaned up at all, and as a Midwestern girl, there was definitely some fear of the unknown in going to the big city (although at 21, you don't really express any of that to anyone). Remember the Guardian Angels? They rode the subway because of how dangerous they supposedly were. I remember praying every time I had to go on the subway. So, that wasn't really weird, but it was memorable.

To finish out that story, I was really over my fear within 2 weeks. I spent the summer in New York working for the Fresh Air Fund. Actually, for the next several summers, I worked there, and when I lived in Massachusetts I worked weekends there too. I got pretty comfortable maneuvering my way around New York City, but I learned which trains to be on, and which not to be on, and I don't think I was ever on a train after midnight again.

I guess I'm still going to have to think about the weirdness topic.

1 comment:

Mariandy said...

Had no idea you lived in NYC! I don't know, I would probably consider being on a subway with a gunman pretty weird. And scary, too.