Wiggle Room

As I was walking out the door this morning, at the time I know I need to in order to make the train to Stamford that I'm supposed to take without taking a cab to get to the train station, my daughter said, "Mommy, I have a question." I listened as I opened our door and she started to ask, but by the time I would have had to answer, I had said, "Bye, have a good day," and I was gone.

That is the difference between Stamford and the Upper West Side (where the ABC soaps were based for years). There is no wiggle room, at least none without cost. If I don't make the correct train, I will be late to work, or standing at the Stamford station or taking a cab from the Stamford Station or driving to Stamford myself. There are options, but each is costly in one way or another, and if I am traveling to Stamford to work, I certainly don't want to be spending everything I work for on those kinds of options.

As I walk through Grand Central every morning, I see thousands of people who are doing the very same thing. For years, I heard members of the One Life to Live crew talk about how long they'd be waiting for their next train or bus if we didn't finish in the next fifteen minutes. At the time, what I took away from it all was an ongoing resolve to stay in the city--to remain free of such unforgiving transportation schedules and the ramifications of them in an industry that frequently works long days. And, yet, here I am. As all of those friends of mine got used to the effect of train and bus schedules on their days, my family and I will too. We will learn to ask questions earlier, and make lunches more efficiently. I will learn to make the train time my friend (as I am doing right now, writing this post so that my home time will be freer for my kids).

And we will find wiggle room again. It might just be in other places.