{"id":137,"date":"2010-07-12T21:27:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/?p=137"},"modified":"2021-05-08T14:19:19","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T14:19:19","slug":"the-simplest-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/the-simplest-celebration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Simplest Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The closest brown line stop is about 6 blocks away. I take the el several times a week to go downtown for concerts, or for work. Sometimes I walk to the station. Sometimes, I confess, when I am short on time, I drive to a place about \u00bd block away and park.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, at around 5:30, I drove to my stash parking spot as I was hurrying to meet a friend for a 6:30 concert. I was carrying a folding chair and a small tote bag with my water bottle and a bag of corn chips when I made it to the turnstile, transit card in hand.<\/p>\n

NO ENTRY.<\/p>\n

The read-out was clear. What\u2019s the problem, I wondered. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. I heard an el train passing overhead. I hoped it was going northbound, and I still had the chance to catch the next train to the Loop.<\/p>\n

My transit card needed to be charged up, I realized, so, wrestling with my concert accessories I managed this transaction at the kiosk as quickly as I could then executed a fast swipe against the card reader at the turnstile and pushed myself up the stairs. And there are lots of stairs! I started to hear the familiar rattle of an approaching train as I went up, but I couldn\u2019t see the platform.<\/p>\n

Oh please, please, please, I mumbled to myself, let me get on this<\/strong> train.<\/p>\n

I felt my stepped-up pulse in my throat. I was grabbing the banister to help me pull myself up the last few steps. By this time, I could definitely tell the approaching train was on my side of the platform.<\/p>\n

I emerged from the stairwell just in time to see the train slowing down, stopping just a few feet ahead of me. I started running. Not one of my stronger suits. I reached the last car just as the doors closed and the train started to pull away.<\/p>\n

Still tussling with my folding chair and tote bag, breathing heavily, I watched, resigned, as the train started down the track, already anticipating how discouraging the view of its rear window would look as it started to pick up speed.<\/p>\n

It moved about 30 feet down the track, then stopped. The doors opened.<\/p>\n

Could this be for me?<\/em> I thought. I managed to get a little energy moving and scampered a few more steps until I reached the last door on the last car. I walked in and the doors closed behind me.<\/p>\n

I felt like I had just won the lottery. I must have had the biggest, most irrepressible, Cheshire Cat grin on my face. These trains just don\u2019t stop once they shut their doors.<\/p>\n

Everyone on the car smiled back. I was positively gleeful, and I must have just beamed with gratitude and surprise.<\/p>\n

A smile is the simplest celebration. A bigger blessing was seeing how my good feelings changed the mood of everyone around me.<\/p>\n

Inviting a train car full of strangers to smile is no small thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The closest brown line stop is about 6 blocks away. 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