This is My Life

     As many of you know I'm a part time student at the University of Utah studying Marketing.  I also work full time at an online marketing company called Gravitate Online in Draper.  My schedule gets tricky trying to balance my time getting from Draper to class in Salt Lake with one vehicle to share between my wife and I.  On the first day of class this semester I thought I had my schedule planned perfectly using the train and bus systems.  This is a story of how desperate life can get as a poor married college student.

     On the first day of class I thought I'd leave work around 4:30 to give myself enough time to get to class which started at 6:00.  At 4:30 I packed my computer, text books, and calculator in my bag and rode my Razor Scooter from work to the front runner station.  I boarded front runner on time and was transported to the Murray Central Station where I got off to board trax to take me the rest of the way to the U.  While sitting on trax the conductor makes an announcement over the intercom telling us there's been an accident a few stops ahead and will be unable to proceed to Salt Lake.  At this point I thought, "ok I'll just get off at the next stop and board a bus to take me the rest of the way."  Easy.  At the next stop I gathered my scooter and bag and began frantically searching for a bus route to the U.  I sat down at a bench when suddenly the bus I needed to take pulls around the corner.  I boarded the bus and sat down at the back and began to plan the rest of my route on my phone.

     The bus pulled out of the driveway and started to head up the hill, I felt confident in my route and good that I was going to make it to class on time.  As my stop began to creep up I reach up to pull the stop cord, as the bus came to a stop and the doors open I began to realize my horror.  I reach for my scooter, "check," as I reach for my bag, "?"  Nowhere to be found.  As the pit in my stomach began to grow I searched everywhere for my bag and couldn't find it.  At first I thought, "someone must have stolen it." Then, "nobody was sitting by me, there's no way anyone could have stolen it."  The bus driver yelled out, "did you lose something?"  I replied,  "Yeah, I lost my bag.  Did someone turn it in?"  She said, "no, I don't remember you carrying a bag when you got on."  Wow, I couldn't believe this is really happening.  I must have left my bag at the train station or even worse, on a train.  With a bewildered look I stepped off the bus feeling like the stupidest person ever to walk the Earth.  How could I have let this happen?

     That bag has my whole professional and academic existence inside of it, my computer, text books, and calculator.  I spent the next few minutes mentally beating myself and kicking a nearby telephone pole.  I decided to do an inventory of my resources and how I might go about solving my predicament.  Hoping my bag will be sitting on the bench unscathed my next thought was to just wait for the next bus to take me back to the train station.  As I'm thinking those very words the bus rolls passed down the street to the train station.  Great, now what am I going to do!  It's getting dark its cold and I have no other alternative than to ride my scooter back to the train station.

     So I crossed the street and and rode with traffic down the hill praying I didn't slip on ice, or get hit by a car, or basically stay alive.  In my head I'm thinking about not dying, and how crazy my life is, and how there is no way my bag will still be sitting there.  I decided to give the prayer of all prayers and said, "If there's anything I ever ask in my whole life I hope that it would be that I find my bag."  With a prayer in my heart I continued on trying to avoid being killed in traffic.

     Out of breath and muscles burning I rode into the parking lot and steered toward the place where I had been searching on my phone for a bus route.  I looked and I searched and looked some more and not to my surprise there was no bag to be found.  Noticing a man standing near the bench where I had been searching I decided to ask, "hey man, have you seen a black bag around here anywhere?"  He replied, "yeah, I saw it and gave it to that bus driver up there."  With hope restored I hurried and rode over to the bus and asked the bus driver if he had a black bag turned in.  He pointed, with a slight smile, to his dashboard.  I looked over and there it was just as I had left it.  Searching inside I found that nothing had been stolen and all was well.  I couldn't believe it.  With a smile on my face I walked to the back of the bus and took a seat still in awe.  From there I was able to make the bus transfers up to the U and was only about 45 minutes late to my first class.

Here's a list of items you may want to consider should you ever find yourself in this situation.

-don't set anything down when riding public transit.
-always bring a scooter where ever you go.
-always have a prayer in your heart.
-approach un-attended bags with caution, they could be bombs.

I hope you liked my true to life story.  Thanks for reading.

Bryce