A Bus

                                 Blog post of " A View From A Bus " By :Midnightwriter                                           I am transitting on the Pierce County bus headed for Tacoma Community College where I am presently enrolled in adult evening classes for GED. It's a thirty minute ride with frequent stops. The trip is quite scenic and calming. Washington is a breathtakingly beautiful state. Reason being, it rains 234 days per year here. Honestly?? That seriously sucks!! Savannah and I have lived here 2 1/2 years now . We hate that part. But there is not a more ideal state in America in the summer time!! Lush and abundant trees and flowers as I have never seen in my life. Wright Park, which has grafted trees from ALL over the world. Brazil, West Indies, Africa , to name a few. Also what I call, "flower trees" as in the Spring and Fall time, some trees here hold not one leaf but a virtual cascade of flowers that also blanket the surrounding sidewalk. It looks like it is quite literally raining flowers when the gentle breezes begin to blow, lightly grasping the petals in it's invisible wayward grip and lowering them softly to the ground. To walk past that particular tree and area of neighborhood is as if one has entered a brief , pink dream. The color of bubblegum!! A little "Alice and Wonderland-ish ". It's delightful!! From my native roots of  beautiful, sunny California, to 18 years in the middle of the midwest, to here. Every state has it's own special wonders and sights, as well as potential, threatening national disasters. Washington has the one and only Mt. Rainier. That takes your breath away. Savannah and her older sister, Rachel, actually climbed Mt. Si!! Those adventurous, "live like you were dyin' ", girls of mine!! They are beyond words amazing, fearless and wonderful!! I'm actually surprised they haven't been inspired to climb Mt. Rainier yet. No adventure too challenging for these young women of mine. They have two brothers who are just as outrageous!! So many thoughts flood my mind as I experience this view from a bus. At 52 years old, I have a great sense of my own mortality and reflect upon the fleetingness of life....."merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream....as the old childrens song goes! So, so true. Scarily true. Where is the evidence my young life existed?? Hidden in the darkness of my parents upstairs closet on reel to reel film. Scads of reels!! Photo albums too!! And in my own soul and spirit. There are those who are living witnesses to the fact I lived a half century ago in the "Golden State of California". In spite of bona-fide evidence; hard , cold facts, it still feels more evidentiary to believe the words to, " Row, Row, Row Your Boat ". My feet have trod many a lake road, national park, beach, country, desert and flat land and I suppose my own daily in and out-take of air proves the truth. I am here. It is now. my present, which is a gift and miracle. My yesterdays I successfully survived, my future as yet unknown as we are only given today. As the steady hum of the Pierce county bus air conditioner breaks my reverie, I notice the college campus looming before me and think of why I'm here at my age, in this state,on this bus. But that is a story for next time.