Three things that make me anxious:
3. Conflict
2. Self promotion
1. Being late
Anyone that has traveled with me in any capacity can attest to my number one anxiety.
I like to get to the airport for domestic flights at least two hours in advance. On afternoons that I take the bus or the train from work, I always leave earlier than I need to, and allow too much time to walk a block and board. If I have an appointment or a meeting, I am, many times, there patiently waiting before anyone else.
I say patiently because I truly do enjoy being early. I never want people to be waiting on me or for me to miss out on something important. I also never want the aftermath of trying to scramble around for whatever it is I missed. I do not want an inconvenience and I do not want to be thought of as an inconvenience.
For these and other reasons, it made me very nervous that four young ladies, all in Red Sox attire, game tickets in hand, leisurely strolled into the Providence train station the other night at 5:30 p.m. They were going to have a great night. I was jealous and wanted to tag along.
Actually, just knowing that the game started at 7 p.m. in Boston, which is an hour train ride away, made me (and still makes me) a bit frantic. And! At what stop are you getting off? By my calculations, you would need to break the bank to either cab it or Uber it from any of the stops in Boston to the Fenway area.
Why did these ladies look so calm? I should say why did three of the four ladies look so calm? The fourth had a fidget spinner. I know that because it fell out of her purse.
Had it been me, the feeling that I felt putting myself in their shoes while I was sitting on the wooden bench waiting for my train home would have been happening far earlier in the afternoon. Panic starts to set in for me around 4 p.m. at the latest.
Maybe they are not ride-or-die baseball fans. Maybe they don't care about watching the first pitch or listening to the National Anthem being sung. Maybe they don't care to pick up some popcorn or a Fenway frank and a beer before taking their seats.
Come to think of it, I wouldn't, I couldn't be friends with them.
