The City Really Is Magical To Me

I 've never actually lived in the city. But last school year I might as well have. I live in Marin County and commuted to the city every day for my whole freshman year of high school. What I enjoyed most was meeting people and learning the transportation of the city. On most days I carpooled with a Martha Stuart-like woman who insisted on buying me a pastry at Starbucks every morning. But on the days she couldn't take me, I would take the bus into the city with my science teacher. I got to know the usual crowd at the bus stop and soon they tried to start conversations with me that often times left awkward silence lingering in the air. Like, "Oh, hey, they changed the billboard at our bus stop. Yay for Comcast Digital Cable!" As I made more friends at my new school, we started hanging out more after school. By the end of the year I could find my way around the city pretty well on my own. Public transportation has been one big adventure for me. I've really seen it all. From drug deals, to girls robbing banks. And I can't forget the first time my friends took me around the city with them and the angry bus driver (who is actually well known through out our school for hating us) started the bus before I was seated. That ended in a unexpected face plant in the grimy pee-covered aisle. To me the city is magical. It's a place where a lot of my fun and wild memories are still held. When I return to those places, I can still see my friends and I up to our crazy shenanigans. And I can't help but smile at the thought that I can see things that other people can't see.