For Adam (aka “Bus Nerd”), on our anniversary

Because Bus Nerd and I met on the bus we ride to work (Sound Transit #545), our early courtship was supplemented by some infatuation-enhancing bus conversations, the kind that actually made me look forward to my commute. Pre-Bus Nerd, I relished my mornings. I loved that I didn’t have to be at work at any particular time, and I never rushed. If I missed my regular bus, well, there’d be another in 15 minutes. More time for NPR. After I got to know him (and which departure time would likely result in an encounter with him), I warmed up to rushing and regularly found myself running up the hill toward the bus stop, coat unbuttoned, bus chick bag half-packed.

The problem was, there was no guarantee we’d get to sit together. Back then, I caught the bus downtown (about midway down Fourth Ave.), and he got on several stops later, at Montlake Blvd. The #545 is a popular bus and is regularly filled to capacity and beyond. Riders who board at Montlake are lucky to find seats at all, let alone next to people they want to sit with. I’m not proud of this, but it’s time I came clean. I wanted to sit by Bus Nerd so badly that that I regularly (and intentionally) committed a minor bus foul: I saved him a seat.

I used the standard tactics: leaving my bus chick bag on the seat next to me (a shocking transgression by a woman who prides herself on her impeccable bus etiquette) and pretending to be busy digging through it each time new people boarded. Sometimes I even resorted to feigning sleep to avoid being asked to move it.

In my defense, I never held the seat if there weren’t others available (remind me to tell you about the time my sister, a much braver soul than I, almost started a bus riot by saving a seat on a standing-room-only bus), and I didn’t turn down anyone who directly asked to sit there--OK, one woman, but that was because Bus Nerd was right behind her and there were several seats open in the area.

Occasionally, I was able to keep a seat free until Bus Nerd got to it. On those days, I was rewarded for my transgression with some of the best conversations of my life. He was so intelligent, kind, funny, committed, well-read, and well-rounded that I actually wanted our bus rides to last longer. Traffic on the bridge? No problem. The more, the better.

Now that we’re married, Bus Nerd and I get on at the same stop. I don’t miss those nerve racking seat-saving days, but I still look forward to my rides with him. I have a feeling I always will.

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