Commuter Glee

So I was commuting to work yesterday morning as usual, with a grumpy horde of fellow city-dwellers. When I get off an orange line train, people are often running down the hallway to catch it (not sure why the desperation- maybe the orange line doesn't run as often as other lines?). It gets pretty crowded in the dingy corrider, and the people trying to get on the train are like salmon swimming (often unsuccessfully) upstream against the strong current of exiting passengers.

This particular morning, I saw a young Asian woman running to catch the train, weaving between the rush of people in the other direction. She was going at a half-run, and pushing a small stroller with a little boy in it- he must have been 2 1/2 or 3. As they were careening down the hallway, she looked worried and determined, but he had the biggest smile on his face, clearly loving the high speed race.

It made me smile, and I heard two other people behind me commenting on it as well. He was getting to have all this fun while he and his mom were doing something very serious (catching the train), though when you think about it in that light maybe it wasn't really that serious, and maybe she could have let herself have fun too.

It reminds me of the scene from the end of the movie Parenthood where Steve Martin is freaking out because his 3 year old is ruining a school play. The camera starts moving so it looks like all the people in the audience are on a roller coaster, and you see his wife just laughing and enjoying the ride, while he is still pretty stressed out. He finally looks around and somehow is able to let go and enjoy the wild, unpredictable ride too. May all of us stress balls (and I'm speaking mostly to myself here) be able to do the same.