Gratitudes May Bus and other things edition

RantWoman lately has more than once at Midweek Meeting for Worship been just overwhelmed with gratitude, gratitude for worship, gratitude for a space well seasoned by worship, gratitude for long bright spring evenings. Gratitude is GOOD.

And this is Planet RantWoman so we must not overdo  it. Or we must pepper our gratefulness with other piquant meditations.

RantWoman from time to time has been called to form thought bubbles such as "Your kid is in a war zone. It does not matter what I think of the war. I can certainly hold you and them in the Light."

Recently The Orange One, the current White House Occupant came up in conversation and RantWoman mentioned that he is perpetually on her Hold in the Light List.  A Friend suggested that is very Quakerly. RantWoman allowed as how it also helps to stay out of barfing range

RantWoman is feeling very grateful for a sense of care. Uncontrolled toddlers sometimes just Drive RantWoman UP THE WALL. RantWoman is a little embarrassed by the problem. RantWoman finds it depressingly easy to feel darned grouchy. BUT, RantWoman has finally come to feel well held after a series of emails and conversations and announcements and problems actually getting worked out by group email.

WARNING: the bottom of this post contains an account of a flip RantWoman out badly incident on the bus. Readers who do not wish to interact are invited to stop reading after the soda machine paragraph. Holding in the Light is never terrible as well.

RantWoman went to Shoreline for a meeting. RantWoman really digs Shoreline because even on Highway 99, Aurora, there are awesome smooth sidewalks AND about 8 feet of green space between the sidewalks and the street.  More gratitude.

After RantWoman's meeting she decided to head south and walk to the next  bus stop. RantWoman was HUNGRY. RantWoman found a lovely middle eastern place with a cashier RantWoman was having trouble understanding. RantWoman finally just ordered what turned out to be a great falafel sandwich. The soda machine had no ice, though. Sigh.

Well caloried, it was time to head south on Metro's famous E line, the current iteration of the Aurora Bus Anthropology project. RantWoman got on the first bus that came by. The "courtesy area" or as RantWoman in Telling Too Much of The Truth mode sometimes calls it, the "Crip Fight Zone"  was already full and it was early in the run. RantWoman found a seat on one side. A woman with a walker was on the other side.

At a stop further along, RantWoman moved to the other side of the bus when she heard the wheelchair ramp deploy. Silly RantWoman, A largish guy in a wheelchair got on. He complained about not having room to turn around. He wanted to secure where the woman with the walker was sitting. His approach started with something like "Move bitch. You are not really disabled. Don't you know this is how I secure?" RantWoman is specifically NOT transcribing a linguistic flow that went downhill from there on both sides.

Wheelchair guy also threatened at least twice to put his fist into the face of the woman with the walker. He in general had trouble with women who talk and he kept asking the driver to make the woman with the walker shut up. .  At this point RantWoman was sitting on the same side of the bus as him. The threats to put his fist in the woman's face went on. The foul language went on. RantWoman at least twice asked him to watch his language. Finally, RantWoman suggested that since she and the woman with the walker were on first, if wheelchair guy had trouble riding the bus with women who talk, maybe he should get off and wait for the next bus. About this time the driver also pulled over, wheelchair guy settled somewhat and then resumed the run.

THANK HEAVEN wheelchair guy got off at the next stop.

RantWoman had been tweeting part of the saga to Metro including the part about the threats and the detail about wheelchair guy wanting to secure backwards which is why he wanted the woman with the walker to move.

But today, RantWoman has spent a spell thinking to herself "Holy cow RantWoman, the guy kept threatening and you kept asking him to watch his language.

Uh huh. And despite all the foul words spewing out of his mouth, wheelchair guy never as far as RantWoman could tell actually lifted his fist.

But RantWoman found herself still breathing hard as she tweeted further details to Metro while awaiting her bus transfer and trying to re-center. There is something in this story RantWoman absolutely wants her readers to GET, besides the fact that RantWoman may or may not actually want to TALK about and revisit the events here.