For my book club I recently finished the book "Riding the Bus with my Sister" by Rachel Simon. It's a non-fiction story from the author who has a mildly retarded sister who spends her days riding in the front seats of various buses all day, Monday-Saturday. The author has decided to ride weekly with her sister for a full year to learn more about her sister and her journey.
My two favorite parts happened to be a page apart from each other. To explain the characters discussed, Melanie is a bus driver and Beth is the retarded sister.
Here is the first:
In the blue bus, Melanie tells us that many years ago, she lost a close friend in a car accident. One minute he was on the phone with her, and half an hour later he was gone. She says, “You don’t know what lies ahead of you the next ten minutes. I don’t know what’s going to happen when I turn this corner here. So why not be a friend? Why not give while you can?
I think life can be a conflict of living life like it might end in 10 minutes or go on for 70 years. Have fun now, but plan for later. Do your laundry, so you have clean clothes to wear. However, I think the way we treat people can fit well both ways. You can treat anyone like they may be gone in a few minutes. I should remember that when I’m stuck in traffic and yelling, “use a blinker, you freak-head.” It’s not always easy to be a friend to everyone, but if I can do it – I should.
Here is the second:
Maybe this is how it goes, I think, watching Beth and Melanie, remembering the people I have loved, and the ones I wish I hadn’t lost. Maybe we are all Beths, boarding other people’s life journeys, or letting them hop aboard ours. For a while we ride together. A few minutes, a few miles. Companions on the road, sharing our air and our view, our feet swaying to the same beat. Then you get off at your stop, or I get off at mine. Unless we decide to stay longer together.
This is an odd one for me love, ‘cause it can certainly be one of my challenges. I have a hard time having medium relationships. I have a strong cross between very light/surface relationships and super-deep relationships. Once I love someone, I’m hooked and I can’t imagine leaving them. I’d like to be better at accepting sometimes you have a person or a friendship and then it can be gone tomorrow and that’s a-okay. Going back to the first excerpt, it’s okay to have a true friend even if it’s very short lived. I want to let more people hop aboard my journey.
It wasn’t a remarkable book, but it was worthwhile if you have some reading time.
8:46:13 PM 
|
