meeting Connie

While I was weeding this morning, a lady walked by the front yard and stopped within twenty feet of me, apparently waiting for one of Walla Walla's infrequent buses.* We got to talking, and she told me about her three sons, one of whom suffers from cerebral palsy and has a plate in his head after suffering a massive cranial injury. Since the insertion of the plate, he's suffered occasional seizures, but he's a tough kid, and has dreams of long-distance riding-- pedal, not motor. Another son, it turns out, works at the Comfort Inn-- the very one I checked into when I arrived in Walla Walla on August 31! Small town life, eh? I'll have to go back to the Comfort Inn, find that guy, and say, "Dude, I metcher Mom!"

Connie told me a bit about her history, and after a while I noticed the bus hadn't arrived yet. I offered to use my BlackBerry to call the Valley Transit Authority (big props to them for good customer service), and Connie graciously accepted. We found out that the bus wasn't late: it was simply one of those routes where the bus appeared only hourly.

Eventually, the bus arrived and Connie gave me a hug. "You gonna be here tomorrow?" she asked. I said yes; I'd be here until the end of the month. "Good; I'm usually out here every day, so we'll see each other again." With that, Connie, who's also a grandmother, stepped onto the bus. Before the doors closed, I heard her telling the bus driver about me and my walk.

Well... here's hoping I see her tomorrow. What an interesting lady.

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*I'm not a big-city sophisticate, but I did live in Seoul for eight years, which can spoil anyone. Seoul's transportation system-- both the public transportation and the taxis-- is one of the best out there. Despite being a city of twelve million people and despite all the horrible traffic jams, it's still possible to move about for fairly cheap compared to many American (and European) cities of comparable size. Seoul's buses run until very, very late, and in the downtown area they often come at three-minute intervals. In Walla Walla, the time between buses can vary from about thirty minutes to an hour, so for spoiled people like me, that's painful. (By the way, the DC-Metro area is similar: if you're in Alexandria and trying to take the 9A-Pentagon bus northward, expect a half-hour wait if you miss your ride. Go, Korea!)


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