My Words to Your Eyes

John Denver once spoke about how songs just came along and he just played them as if they'd been there along, just waiting to come out.

"I had nothing to do with it," he said. It's like that with my writing. I just sit here at the keyboard, eyes closed. Thoughts just flood through my mind and out my fingertips. I'm just telling you what I've seen, like you're sitting here with me and we're having a conversation. One-sided, that is. You're just listening as my hands relay my mind's wanderings.

Sometimes while driving the bus, I have the greatest urge to just tell you what I'm thinking at that precise moment. It's mind-blowing, folks! The best stuff I've thought of to date! By the end of the day though, those wonderful ideas have faded with the sunset, and I'm left with my aging mind trying to recall them. By the time I'm sitting here at home, being soothed by my music and working at my great aunt's beloved 90-year-old oak desk, I just close my eyes, breathe deeply and let the words come forth. Like Denver said, mostly I have "nothing to do with it."

Feelings. They're honest and open, if you allow them to be. Unlike opinions, which are crafted and deliberated upon. If you sit back and let them escape, feelings surprise you more often than not. Held within, they are nothing but a cancer. Cleansing the soul allows good or bad to fly free and ramble. Maybe that's why I'm such a long-winded bastard. If I allow what I feel to remain bound within this lapdog of a soul, my voice would never be heard but more important, I couldn't sort the good from what truly bothers me.

As I put the book of blog posts together, I noticed how my tone changed over time. From glowing about the excitement of a new adventure, I gradually descended into melancholy and anger. "Bitch, bitch, bitch," my son told me, "that's all you do. I can't read it Dad... it's too dark." He hadn't noticed how I tried to boost the tone with the good I saw. Still, I heard his warning. I heed it still, but as of yet I haven't found how to blast through wall I've come up against.

Bus operation requires one to be honest with oneself. How you treat passengers has a major impact on the tone of your day. Even in my darkest of moods, I can still find a way to help people smile. Waiting for a mother carrying a toddler while dragging 40 pounds of groceries is more important to me than keeping to an unrealistic schedule some corporatist insists I follow to the nanosecond. It does my soul wonders to hear her say "Thank you... waiting another 20 minutes for the next bus would be an eternity I don't want to endure right now." Hearing her laugh when I say, drily with an exaggerated sigh, "That'll be an extra $29.95, ma'am" is worth more to me than any positive blip on a stat sheet.

It's these moments I live for, yet I tend lately to mostly remember the bad. The nasty, the dreaded, the worst the job has to offer. That's why it's vital I take a step back right now. You don't want to be bombarded with this crap. Drivers deal with it daily, so why would you want to read about it? Readership has dropped, and it's my own damn fault.

Time out. Stay tuned, I'll be back. I want to entertain again. Make you smile, laugh and wonder. When I started this blog journey, I promised to let you know how I feel, from the driver side. You've seen the best, read about the worst. Give me a little time to find the funny and uplifting once again. I won't get there examining transit management, because cranial-rectal inversions are too deep for my taste.

Thanks for indulging me, even when I don't deserve it. I'll be back.

Comments

  1. It's okay to take some time away, but do write a paragraph now and again just to stay in touch.Please?

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    1. Working feverishly on the book, buddy. My blogging mind is on hold for the moment. Besides, when have I ever been able to write just one paragraph? I'll be back brother. Safe travels.

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  2. This faithful & dependent Trimet rider hopes you take as much time as you need. And I think that what you write is always worthwhile.
    It's simple for us passengers to smile, greet our driver as we board, and thank as we exit. I don't care how awful I'm feeling, I make that effort & then go back to my natural sourpuss mode. I can't make other riders do the same,but I can be an example to help steer them that way. Much love to ALL the Trimet drivers.

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    1. Thank you, that means a lot to us. I'm in healing mode right now. Working on the book, which is cathartic. I appreciate your patience!

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  3. "Hey... It will come back to you..." Hang in there, bud.

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  4. I know how you feel, brother. After almost 30 years in this business, I've given up more of myself than I am justly compensated for. I'm spent. I'm compelled to isolate myself from that which frustrates and confounds me. Yet, I have at least 7 more years to go before I can retire from the madness. I wonder if I'll make it...

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    1. You're more brave than I am. How you can do this for three decades without ending in an asylum is a miracle. I'll be lucky to finish 10 years!

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  5. I was glad to read your post as a fellow driver I was glad I wasn't the only one who thought of things that way. It's been a pleasure reading your posts.

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