A Crazy Morning

This morning was one of those times when I felt I had gone back to our days in Bulgaria. I felt lost, was forced to make sense of public transportation and I had to run around like a crazy person to get somewhere on time.

Just last week we started to make the transition to one nap with Jesse, so I thought it would be nice to get out and enjoy our long chunk of time in the morning. Today was the last free day at the Shedd Aquarium until June, so I also thought it was a good opportunity to take advantage of that. Plus, I thought Jesse would be fascinated by all the fish and turtles and other underwater creatures.

Jesse and I headed out this morning about 8:20, making a quick trip by our car to grab the umbrella stroller before we went to the Metra station. We bought our ticket and made it to the platform with about 5 minutes to spare. It's a bit challenging to get on the train with a stroller and then get your baby out of the stroller and fold it up all by yourself, but we managed to do it without making a big scene. Within 10 minutes we were on the Museum Campus and we waited in a short line to get our free tickets. We walked around and saw most of the free exhibits, and we stopped by the Caribbean Reef for me to give Jesse his morning yogurt.

I had planned on us spending 45 minutes to an hour in the aquarium, so at about 5 till 10 I decided we ought to head back to the station to buy our return ticket and wait on the train, which was coming at 10:25 (that would give us way more time than we needed, but at least we wouldn't be rushing around and worried about catching the train).

As we were riding the elevator down to the exit, I realized that I must have dropped Jesse's coat somewhere along the way. So, we headed back upstairs and searched and searched and searched, but couldn't find it anywhere. I asked several museum employees if a coat had been found, and also visited the information desk to see if they had it, but no one had seen it.

It was getting to be late enough that I was worried about us making it back for our 10:25 train ride (the next one was at 11:25 and Jesse would be starving and tired by then). I would have just left and come back for the coat later, but it was cold enough outside that Jesse really needed his coat. The good news was that after retracing our steps numerous times, I finally spotted it. The bad news was that we had less than 5 minutes to get out of the building and catch the train. I hurriedly put on his coat and socks in the elevator and as soon as we got out the door I started sprinting towards the train, which is maybe a quarter-mile or half-mile from the museum. According to my watch, I was three minutes late, so I had an inkling that I was out of luck. And I was...no one was on the platform, which is a bad sign.

I was feeling pretty bummed by this time, and really had no clue what I was going to do. I couldn't call James to come rescue me, because he has back-to-back class all day on Tuesdays (and plus, by the time he walked to our car from campus and came to get us, it would probably be time for the 11:25 train to come anyway). I also didn't have a phone number for a taxi company, and couldn't look it up since I am still in the Dark Ages and don't have Internet on my phone. So I figured I would ask around about getting a bus back to Hyde Park (surely somebody would know, right?). I was definitely feeling anxious at this point, but I also had a strange peace that God was going to provide for us to get home somehow.

As I was leaving the train station, two men started walking in, and so I asked one of them where the next train was going. The guy told me it was coming at 10:35 (we had a few minutes to spare) and headed south (good) and would stop in Hyde Park around 53rd Street (also good, though not as close to our home as the 10:25 train would have been, but I couldn't complain about having to walk a few extra blocks).

I headed back down to the platform at this point, but when I went to one of the machines to purchase my ticket, I realized that it didn't accept credit cards. I asked someone about it, and he said there was no credit card machine at this station. After rummaging around in my wallet, I finally managed to round up three one-dollar bills, but the train was already coming, so I was out of time.

The doors opened up and I asked one of the train people if I could just pay on board, since I didn't realize that there was no credit card machine at that particular station and didn't realize I had any cash until it was too late to buy a ticket. Just as he was explaining that I could not do this, a lady happened to be boarding the train and offered me an extra ticket that she had. She told me that someone had done this for her once, and she had been wanting to pay it forward. Wow! Words cannot describe how thankful and relieved I was!

We got on board and it turns out that the guy was wrong about the train stopping at 53rd Street. It actually stopped at 57th Street, which meant we would be walking an extra 6 blocks home, but that was ok. I was very turned around when we got off the train, but lucky for me, street addresses correspond to which block you are on (numbers get bigger the farther south you go) and so I was quickly able to get us going in the right direction. Jesse fell asleep about two blocks from our building, but he woke up and ate a good lunch and just went down for his nap a little while ago. It is always interesting to see the ways that God provides, even for little situations like this, which seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

P.S. I wish I had some pictures to share, but I opted not to take the camera, since that would just be one more thing to lug around and take on and off of the train. In hindsight, I am so glad that I didn't bring it!