Thursday, February 6, 2014

A Bus Stop

"Hello. My name's Forrest, Forrest Gump. You want a chocolate?" - Forrest Gump 1994


This morning I missed my bus. Again. The temperature also dropped and I woke up late. However, missing my bus is what made me late to my internship. In order to get to my internship I have to take a campus bus and then a city bus followed by walking about a quarter mile. If the city bus was dependable then I would be able to do is no problem. This obviously isn't the case. 

Upon missing my bus and being faced with sitting at the bus stop for 40 minutes, I went in to the convenience store and bought these delicious little (read massive) cinnamon toast crunch treat bars for me and the kids. They are fantastic and you all must try them. Anyway, after I walked out of the store and back to the bus stop, the young man who was already sitting there offered to move his stuff so I could sit down. This is very rare in today's world so I was really grateful that he was willing to do so. Once I sat down I asked him if he was waiting on the E bus. He removed his head phones and that is how Ernest and I began our 40 minute conversation about life. Ernest is going to community college and his is an aspiring music producer. Now this is not meant to sound mean or judgemental but from the 40 minutes I got to sit with him and discuss everything I was able to tell that he has something off about him. He had some trouble speaking and keep eye contact. I would say that he is on the Autism spectrum however that is just what it comes off as. ***I am not yet a licensed professional so I have no merit in saying any of this*** I am however the aunt of a spectacular ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) nephew who is quite frankly the most precious child in the world. The point is I have an idea of the signs.

My other point is he was just so positive, nice, determined and passionate about everything we talked about. It was so refreshing to come across that type of person in a low income neighborhood on the cusp of the "bad" part of town. People surprise me all the time but today Ernest really made my day even if he did weird me out at first. He was genuinely curious about my major and what I wanted to do after college. He was so excited to tell me about his music and all of his aspirations even though I could tell it was an effort for him to talk to me about it. I feel like got off (of the bus we eventually got on) a better person for having talked to him and that makes me happy.

Ernest was nice enough to let me listen to some of the music he has already produced and recorded and while I don't too much about the industry I will say if he keeps at this I will definitely be able to look back at this post and say "I met him at a bus stop once."

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