After living in New York City for almost (gulp) 19 years, one of the things that I love is bumping into people I know or haven’t seen in a while in any number of places. At a show, on the subway platform, on the street, you name it. (It should be noted that the only place this rarely happens is in Times Square because locals avoid it like the plague.)
Last night I was running off to do two shows when I saw my friend, Marcie, who’s just returned from a sabbatical, on the subway platform. Thanks to her Facebook posts and our mutual friends’ recent pictures, I knew there was a lot of new things going on in her world.
I said hi and we exchanged a quick hug as the A train approached. I asked her which train she was taking.
“The B,” she said.
I could also take the B. I wanted to take the B to catch up with her, but the A would have been faster and I needed to take that for two reasons.
I wanted to be on time for the show, of course, but more importantly, because I had to leave early for another show I was on.
I had just written the story I was going to tell an hour before (something I’ve never done, but you know, I like to live on the edge) and I needed time to work on it. If I had ridden with Marcie, I would have wanted to ask her a thousand questions about her time away, what she’s up to now, etc.
I looked up to see that the B was one minute away, which may or may not have been true. Sometimes those signs are a little off.
I had to make a quick decision. I had no time to waste. The A train was going to leave without me.
I looked down at my story in my hands and told her I’d love to catch up, but I better hop on the A train. I said good-bye, got on the train in time and shouted, “I really want to hear how you’re doing!” to Marcie and to the annoyance of my fellow passengers.
I was glad that I made that split decision and said no to riding with her. I had time to work on my story, I got to the venue with 10 minutes to spare and, considering that I was telling this story for the first time, I was happy with how it went over.
Win to the win to the win! In other words, the A train helped me bring my “A” game. ;)
What would you have done in this situation? Do these types of decisions stress you out or are they easy to make? Tell me below and if you like what you’ve read, please share this and subscribe below. Thanks!