Learning your ABC...D's

When you ride the ferry daily you get into a routine. You tend to sit in the same place, with the same group of people. It's kind of like high school cliques! (there's the bicycle booths, the mom booths, the "silent" room, etc.) I'm not sure how I got in the habit of it, but I sit in two different places. One place in the morning, and a completely different place on the commute home. Mornings I don't really sit by "regulars" meaning it's not necessarily the same group of people that I sit with in the morning. I kind of see it as "my time" I read the paper, and in all honesty, don't want to have to be social that early in the morning. The commute home is a different story.

For about a year now I have sat with a couple and their young daughter Katie . She's almost 3. Now, some people avoid kids on the ferry. I've seen it with my own eyes. Someone will sit down in a booth, then a family with a young child will sit nearby and the childless person will promptly get up and move to another section. I get it. For the same reason I don't want to be social on my morning commute, I'm sure there are plenty out there who want the solace of a quiet commute with no screaming or rambunctious kids. But for me...after a long day at work...Katie is just what the doctor ordered. She takes my mind off of any worries or stress I might have and makes me laugh. In the year since her family started sitting in my booth (yes, we ferry commuters get possessive of our seats---kidding!) she has grown up a lot, as I'm sure any of you with children know. When I first met Katie she was only 2 and didn't have much of a vocabulary and you had to pry anything out of her shy little personality. Closing in on 3 however she has more energy and full sentences galore.

Here's a perfect example of why I love sitting by Katie and she makes my commute home so much more fun:

Dad (looking at note from preschool teacher): Katie, what did you do at school today? Looks like Brian came and sang songs for you.

Katie (with 100% enthusiasm in her voice): We did, he sang the ABCD's

Because really people, who decided that only A, B, and C should be included in the name of the song?

Happy Friday everyone...enjoy your weekend!

I'll have exciting news to share with you next week...stay tuned.