Sweet Girl

Yesterday the trip from DIA to my car was such a pleasant surprise after a long, busy weekend in San Diego. I started writing about my trip while I was "sitting in a chair in the sky," but I didn't get very far, and now that I think about it, there wasn't much greatness to share.

So, there I was sitting on the shuttle. Alone. The driver guy wasn't even there, since he was standing on the curb. And as I sat there, I was pondering how the system worked. Would we sit around waiting for people to come and then would the guy drive me to my car? Since there was a pretty constant trickle of people leaving the terminal, how does he decide which sole to just drive away in front of? Would we go to the other side of the terminal to pick up more people before heading to the cars? Should I have just walked to the other side of the terminal and I would have caught the previous bus that drove away as I was walking up? Is it efficient for all these shuttles to drive one person at a time to their car? Is my $6 per day enough to make this system work?

Then some people got on. Whew. I wasn't alone. And then more people. A family. I moved to the other side to let them all sit together, and they were very thankful. They were cute and nice and at the end of a vacation... I couldn't help it.

Then another family. Cuter. Their little girl came up to me and I think she thought we were already close friends. She hopped up in the seat and we had a very fun next 10 minutes together. We talked about the colors on the seats, the cars outside, compared the feeling of moving and stopping, the importance of holding on, etc. She even played hide and seek for a while, but it was really just ducking her little head in between my arm and the seat. Where did she go?! The most special part wasn't so much when she asked me to go home with her, but when she gave me a big arm hug. That's one of those that the other person wrap their arms around your upper arm. The next part was classic, too. While holding onto my arm, she turned her face up to me, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips together. Another picture-perfect moment that will stay only in my head. (Note: I have a thing against kissing other peoples' children on the lips... no thank you. Those lips shall be saved for your parents for at least a few more years.)

The runner up for the most special award was when I asked her how old she was. I wish I had a picture of this girl holding up the sign for I Love You. That was her way of holding up two fingers. Her dad quickly corrected her and showed her a V with his pointer and middle fingers... and after a while of trying to maneuver her fingers to be like his, she held up a V with her ring and pinky fingers. But, really, the first option was the best one.

It was a sad moment when she had to go, but her family exited the shuttle first. Right after they got off, the guy across from me looked at me confused. Then he said, "you mean, you're not with them? You just met that girl when you got on this bus? Wow. I figured you were the nanny or something." Nope. She was just an outgoing little one and I was in the mood for talking with someone new, and getting a hug. (Somehow she new deep down that I don't actually mind hugs... I'm just not usually a hug-initiator.)

Just for laughs, I'll proceed to share about the following 5 minutes of my commute home. I was so flustered by the whole time with the girl, that I got off the shuttle at the wrong stop... twice. The first time I got off at DD3, but my paper really said OO3 and the lady who wrote it just made them look like D's. Darn. I waited for the next shuttle to go take me further into the sea of cars. Then when the driver said my stop, I thought he said O3 rather than OO3 and I stayed on thinking I wasn't going to get tricked again. Good thing the next one wasn't too far off course and that the weather was nice for walking through a dark parking lot.