63 Days

Messages left on the line between January 19th, 5am CST - January 21st, 8pm CST.

I have this friend who always makes me feel comforted and loved and we got to just have like a little minute at the bar the other day and thought it was just this really sweet touch point where I just felt really loved and known and heard and seen. And I'm very grateful for her and that brought me a lot of joy.

So, over the course of the last 63 hours a couple of pretty phenomenal things have happened to me. Small scale in maybe last year’s eyes but as I sit here right now I feel very fulfilled. Over the week I attended my first open mic although I didn’t actually perform. It was really beautiful to allow myself to feel fulfilled with community and like minded individuals - listening to them share parts of themselves and be vulnerable made me feel like I could do the same one day. There’s also a bus driver that I see, two of them, on my way to and from work. And, this morning I was running a little late for work and ended up almost missing my bus but as I’m standing there seeing my bus driver, the same bus driver I see every morning, he turns and sees that I need to cross the intersection, and instead of taking the green light that he has, looks at me, waves, and waits for me to run across Milwaukee Ave to make the bus on time so I wouldn’t be late for work. He gave me the biggest smile and said, I told you I had you! because that’s usually what he says to me in the morning and I didn’t really necessarily understand that because I’m always very much so on time, so today that i wasn’t it was really beautiful and warm and lovely to feel like I was had. That this, essentially this stranger had my back and it makes me want to continue to have hope that strangers can connect and have a sense of community even if its for a brief, passing moment. I spend a total of 15 minutes on the bus every morning. I don’t talk to him, I just say hello as I scan the card, pay my fare and wish him a very good day as I exit the bus. Very grateful for these small moments and connections. They make me feel very big inside.