Getting to work can often mean dealing with the stress of heavy commuter traffic, especially if you live in a crowded metropolitan area like New York, Miami or Los Angeles. I happen to live in Massapequa, New York. Massapequa is a nice suburban area with good schools. It is a nice place to raise a family. In return for living in a nice home, away from the busy city, I must commute an hour to work each day.
I work at a downtown Manhattan advertising firm and must be in my office at 8:30am 5 days per week. As anyone who lives or has been in Manhattan knows, parking is a major hassle. If you are lucky enough to find a metered parking spot, you’ll have to run down and feed the meter regularly or risk getting an expensive parking violation ticket. If you can’t find a meter and have to park in a garage, expect to pay $10, $20 or more for the privilege.
I avoid the hassle of driving through New York traffic by taking the train to work. I used to battle the thousands of other commuters heading to New York City on the Long Island Expressway and arrive at work full of stress. One day, I decided to take the Long Island Railroad in to Manhattan and walk the 5 blocks (passing about 10 shoe stores on the way!) from the station to my building. It was probably one of the smarter decisions I’ve made in years.
I bought a monthly pass and began taking the Long Island Railroad to work. There was a station conveniently located about 5 miles from home and each morning my wife would drop me off at about 7:00am and I would catch the 7:12am train to Penn Station down by Madison Square Garden in lower Manhattan. I actually looked forward to my daily commute to work.
When the train pulled in to the station and I climbed aboard and found a seat, I had about an hour to relax before work. Usually I tried to get a window seat so I could watch the cars backed up on the streets and highway as we whizzed by at what seemed like about 70 miles per hour. There were a few stops along the way to pick up more passengers, but they only took a couple of minutes before we were back steaming ahead to our final destination.
I spent the time on the train reading the New York Times or sometimes the Wall Street Journal. It gave me a chance to catch up on the news and I also enjoyed reading about the sports teams in New York. Every day, when I boarded the train, I brought my mug of coffee and a donut or other pastry for breakfast.
I seldom talked to my fellow passengers as everyone always seemed to be preoccupied. Some would be dozing off and others, like me, were carefully studying the daily newspaper. Before I knew it, the train pulled in to the station and I was ready for another day on the job.