Mobile Community

There are a number of us that ride the same commuter bus to and from downtown Dallas every day. Over the last couple of years we have come to know each other on various levels. I have talked to a lot of them and know some of their stories.

There’s Susan who works from home most of the time but once a week goes in to the office. Paula recently lost her husband and has had to re-enter the work force. Brandon sometimes dozes off and asked me to nudge him if he starts to snore. There’s Nina, the lovely young Muslim woman who grew up in Africa. We speak openly with one another about our beliefs. We watch for each other now and I pray daily for her salvation. Today she gave me a gift: one of her beautiful shawls.

There’s the young man who boards the bus and immediately pulls his sweatshirt hood over his face, slinks into a back seat and goes to sleep. There is the chubby Hispanic lady who doesn’t speak English but greets all of us with a huge smile every morning. There is the handicapped man who sometimes doesn’t make his connection. If we see him struggling to make it, we ask the driver to please wait. And he does. There’s the doctor who rides to the hospital in his scrubs who sits beside the construction worker holding a hard hat in his lap. A young girl reads the latest Harry Potter novel while the middle aged woman next to her reads a Beth Moore study guide.

Once, a teenage boy fell asleep on my shoulder. His father saw and started to wake him but I shook my head, “No. Let him sleep.” There was the 5 year old riding with his grandmother who was infatuated with me and told me he was in love with me.

We know who gets off at which stop and notice when someone is not there that day. A few have had surgeries and there have been a couple of broken feet and wrists. We celebrate with the injured when the cast finally comes off.

The riders of Route 204 only see each other once or twice a day and only for the 40-45 minute ride to and from work. We connect and converse as we commute and while it might not be the “model” for community, in that bit of time we share our lives and it's good.