After working all day… for me, as a person who suffers from Fibromyalgia, Mondays are truly the hardest day… they are the day I go from feeling pretty ok, to wiped out all in one day. There isn’t a Monday that goes by where I usually take a nap at lunch. Today was no exception.
As 4:30 came and went… I was once again leaving work later than I intended… that, of course, ramps up my stress level as I know I’ve already missed the “not so full” bus and am going to now get the “really stinkin’ crowded” bus. Usually, though, there are more than 3 seats available.
Today, however, there were only 3 seats left at my stop. I was the 4th person in a long line. I didn’t realise that there were no more seats left until I got all the way to the back. Nuts. So… I turned around to exit. Well, about 9 people behind me decided to take the 25 minute ride to the park and ride station standing. Nuts.
I turned around, braced myself and hung onto the overhead bins. I rapidly realized that this was not going to work for me. First, I was too short, leaving my hanging on to be more hanging and less holding on. Second… my neck and back were already screaming. I was sure that other people could hear them!
So I’m standing there looking around… looking down, looking back… there was naught I could do. I was just on the verge of sitting on the floor (a desperate situation as I was wearing white trousers) when I felt a tap on my arm… well more of a tug on my jacket. An African American Man had tugged my jacket and when I looked at him he said “Ma’am… would you like my seat?”
Be still my painful neck.
“Oh, yes! Desperately!” and when I enquired what made him decide to do so, it was my folded up can I keep bungeed to my backpack.
So we traded, with a little bit of maneuvering on our part (he was on the inside by the window) and the man on the aisle got up, move up close to the fella ahead of me, which allowed me to climb in and him to climb out.
I was very grateful. I wouldn’t have survived… well that’s a bit dramatic… I would have but it would have been very, very painful.
So here’s to chivalry not being dead and not being dead in the BIG city!
Fizz
© ‘Fizz’ 2010
Michigan Dreaming --> Texas Tortured 
All hail the southern gentleman! Our mommas taught us a thing or two, didn’t they?
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