Mondays are always a challenge. Waking up early again after a nice relaxing weekend to start the week is never something I look forward to. Especially now when I have two snuggly kittens making it very difficult to move out of bed.
Monday morning was different (still hard to get up), but rather than going straight to work. I took a 1/2 day and went to a meeting first thing at a new office building. Its a super exciting opportunity at a company I have always wanted to work with. Seeing as its about 15 minutes closer to my apartment than my current office, I left with plenty of time, but expected an easy subway commute.
NOT.
About 15 minutes in to the ride my train gets stopped under the East River (I live in Queens) due to train traffic. I feel a small wave of panic wash over me, but quickly let it go as I still had plenty of time. A few more minutes go by when another announcement comes on that there is a sick passenger at 42nd street (let me remind you that I am still technically in queens). Cue the panic.
NYC subways are notoriously unreliable. Between train traffic, sick passengers, and signal problems, it’s a miracle we get anywhere.
Anyways, as I sat on the train practicing my meditative breathing (and receiving weird looks from other passengers and every inhale/exhale), I kept reminding myself that this situation was completely out of my hands. I obviously love being in control of everything, so being stuck with no wifi and nowhere to go was an anxiety attack waiting to happen. When I finally reached the first stop in Manhattan, I raced out of the station, quickly calling someone to explain the situation, attempting to hail a cab (right in the middle of morning rush hour). Just to paint this picture, I was all dressed up and wearing 6″ heels running down Lexington Avenue. Perfect outfit for marathon training obviously.
Luckily there was a cab pulled over at a coffee cart, so I ran to him, arms flailing, yelling PLEASE TAKE ME. Jumping in, I ordered him to make for 50th and 7th Ave as fast as he possibly could. A nice, older gentleman, he understood the urgency of the situation, and proceeded to talk me down as we made our way to the drop-off point. Maybe there’s still hope for our city’s humanity,
In an end to this horrible commute, I made it to the meeting only 15 minutes late. In my mind, being late to anything important is an automatic fail, but then again some things are out of our control. I guess we will just wait and see what fate has in store for me with this opportunity. Happy Monday!
Xoxo -J
Un-Fashionably New York 