Don't Run For the Bus

Before he pulls out onto the road, the first thing a bus driver does is look to his right. 

Clear.

The second thing he does, is look to his left.

Clear.

I have a friend who once told me that under any circumstance, he would never run for the bus. Even if he was running late, he would cooly let it depart and keep walking as if he never had any intentions of getting on that bus in the first place.

Now I believe this was for the sake of his pride. For some reason, flailing your arms and trying to flag down a bus is not the most graceful of motions. I can understand the horrifying risk of rejection. And even if the bus driver does indeed stop for you and lets you on, everybody already on the bus will look at you with your heavy breathing and shake their heads.

How embarrassing.

Now the story I am going to tell you today is terribly embarrassing, but I shall share my newly gained wisdom with you anyway.

So there I am, graceful me, waiting at the bus stop, perfectly on time.

A bus arrives, perfectly on time, and I’m sure it’s my route. But I patiently wait anyway for the bus to indicate route 42 on its external LED display attached securely on its rump (is it an LED display? I don’t know).

Oh. Not my bus.

That’s ok. So there I am, graceful me, waiting at the bus stop. I begin to pace just a little bit, expecting my bus to arrive at any moment.

Time passes.

I look at the time on my cell phone.

I notice the battery is low, which is strange because I had it plugged in all night (I know, I know. I’m not “supposed” to leave it plugged in all night). Anyways, I am getting a little antsy at this point, as I always do when I am running late.

I decide that I should inform one of the trainers at the Sports Centre that my bus must be running late and I might not be there on time. So there I am, graceful me, waiting at the bus stop, typing up a message and… my phone dies.

Now, I’ll tell you why that message would have been important.

I have been an intern at the Canadian Sports Centre Atlantic for over 6 months now. At this point, I’ve had some pretty good days and I’ve done some pretty cool things. Today… the Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach of Atlantic Canada was away and he asked me, casually, to fill in for him while one of his Olympic athletes came in to train.

Yea, so no big deal.

This is NOT a day I want to be late for.

So there I am, graceful me, waiting at the bus stop with a dead phone. I decide that I had better run back to my room and grab my portable charger so I could let someone know that I wouldn’t be there on time. I run back to residence, zoom up to sixth floor and retrieve my portable phone charger, zoom back down and exit the basement doors of my building facing the bus stop.

BUT THEN I SEE IT. BUS 42 patiently waiting at the bus stop, very imperfectly not on time.

SO there I am, graceful me, sprinting towards the bus as I see the doors slowly closing.

For those of you who do not live in Halifax, I will let you know that yesterday the sky released its innermost emotions and created sidewalks of slick ice. I kid you not.

Now this is the moment I need to share with you.

People will tell you to live your life everyday as if it were your last. 
We’ve heard it all before, blah blah blah.

So there I am, graceful me, gliding with beauty and ease, three steps away from the bus and… WOOP.

There I go. UNDER THE BUS as it begins to drive and take it’s path on route 42.

Never in my life did I imagine this was the way I was going to go. How embarrassing.

Rest In Peace

Julianna Tan

1993-2015

Ran over by a bus.

She will be missed.

As I close my eyes ready to die, the bus halts to a screeching stop.

I’M ALIVE!

Before he pulls out onto the road, the first thing a bus driver does is look to his right. 

Clear.

The second thing he does, is look to his left.

Clear.

The bus driver slowly peels away from the sidewalk and off he goes on the route his bus was destined to take.

If I had not be as ungraceful as I was, the bus driver would not have heard me and all of the contents in my backpack hit the ice-coated ground and release a shattering echo (including my stainless steel water bottle, which probably saved my life today).

He didn’t see me.

Now, this is the point where I tell you what I’m thinking.

Some days I fool myself and say, “I’ll be happy when I get from Point A to Point B.”

I’ll be happy when I’m done with school.

I’ll be happy when I have a million dollars.

I’ll be happy when I’m in better shape.

I’ll be happy when I meet the love of my life.

I’ll be happy when I have my own home.

This is a game that is flawed by design.

There are no checkpoints to fulfillment.  

You are either a happy person or you are not.

Yes, of course, there are so many beautiful things to look forward to throughout your journey in life, but right now, in this moment, you are where you are. And you need to live it and love it.

Taste your food today, not tomorrow

Pay attention to your words today, not tomorrow

Listen to good music today, not tomorrow

Read good books today, not tomorrow

Realize the uselessness of anger today, not tomorrow

Smile when your heart flutters today, not tomorrow

(Metaphorically. Otherwise you should probably not smile if that’s happening).

If you can take anything away from reading this post today, I hope you live today like it’s your last.

Live in the present.

Don’t fluster over the past.

Don’t focus too heavily on the future that has yet to come
(because you might be run over by a bus today)

And if you decide not to listen at all, well… at the very least:

Don’t run for the bus.