A little background…
I have a fifty minute train ride in and out of the city every day, tack on the drive to the train station in my town and the walk from Union Station to my office, and it takes me approximately one hour and thirty minutes door to door to get to work each day. The return trip is a bit longer due to the heavy traffic getting out of my town’s train station. Total every day, I spend a minimum of THREE HOURS commuting to and from work, five days a week. There are three things that make up for this commute:
- My work reimburses me the cost of my monthly train ticket
- We were actually able to purchase a house, because it is so far away from everything
- I have a great group of friend I sit with on the train that generally make the ride bearable
You were told what?!
Normally, I sit on the way home with a male friend that is about 20 years my elder. The time is passed by sharing stories of the day and completing the sudoku from that day’s newspaper. On normal days, we work together to solve the puzzle and have a feeling of accomplishment when we are done. However, on this particular day, I figured out where one of the numbers should be placed and had a long drawn-out, layered reason for that particular placement. Instead of the normal response of, “Cool, you’re right!” that one of use gives the other, I received the response of “Wow, you’re pretty smart a girl.” I was floored. Who says that? I had thought by this time I had proven that I am an individual that can think for myself, that is a problem solver, someone that can have an intellectual conversation, and well, generally knowledgeable. Apparently my friend thought it was remarkable that I, a female, could use logical and analytical reasoning. He said that he was just joking, but here I am, weeks later, still in disbelief that I, a girl, am pretty smart.
Reflections of Sunflower 