Learning The City

Many years ago, when I was a production secretary (do they even call them that any more?), fresh out of college and the suburbs, I spent hours traveling around the city doing errands for my boss. I used to say that I learned the city that way. (If I recall correctly, I also learned a tremendous amount about gourmet foods, which were often part of the "pickup list.")
 
But I digress. All those years ago, I learned the city from the comfort of a cab, or sometimes even a car service. If I was schlepping stuff back, it was quite often with the help of a driver, and, of course, both the schlepped stuff and the ride were at my boss's expense.
 
I was reminded today that while I am still, all these years later, learning the city, it is now at my own expense, mostly on trains, buses, and foot. These days, I am rarely schlepping gourmet foods or production supplies. Instead, most of my travels have me schlepping children--and their stuff. If I am going to the four corners of the city, it is rarely--okay, never--in the comfort of a "town car." Rather, it is on the series of trains that HopStop told me to take and on the walks before and after the trains. If I am running late, I'm worried not about whether the only store with "red cabbage in jars" will close, but about whether my child will be waiting alone at a baseball field. If I pick up the wrong thing, I'm concerned not about being fired for incompetent errand running, but about whether all of tomorrow will be spent getting what I didn't get today (which is needed for school on Monday).
 
It has been a long time since I "learned the city" as part of my first job. I know a lot more than I did then, but I am still learning, perhaps even more, now that the trips are via "ankle express," and my "bosses" are younger than I am. Learning the city is a process that doesn't stop--these days it just has a literally steeper learning curve.