Back in the Saddle

I have missed you.   For over a year and a half every Sunday at 10a, I have been blessed to share a story from my little red car 🚗.   The idea of writing about these conversations was not my own. Occasionally I listen to those who know me and know what works.  My daughter Amy, my son Mateo and my friend Jim, basically said, “You need to write about these rides”. Since November of 2015 I have given 4,461 Lyft rides. Doing this has actually raised my sense of hope for the world we share.  The vast majority of riders are kind, grateful, interested in others and each person has a story.  I took a month off, and this was a good thing. Most of the time was spent in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Austria.  You will be hearing from time to time how that experience interfaces with my Lyft life.

Once you are a qualified Lyft driver your job is very simple.  Turn on your driver app when you want to ‘work’, follow the instructions on the app.  Drive safely from point A to point B and treat each rider like you would like to be treated.  You can do two rides a day or 22 – it is up to you. On Tuesday I got back into my Lyft groove and gave nine rides.  Here are two of them.

Ride #1:  I picked him up in a very exclusive neighborhood in Greenwood Village.  He was headed to a bank downtown. “How long will this ride take”? was his only interaction.  “The app says 28 minutes”… silence.  Within seconds he was on a conference call and it was as if I did not exist.  He was talking investment banking and mergers and acquisitions…and about Billions… not millions.  I confess the “fly on the wall” driving was beyond fascinated.  It was a peek into a world about which I know little. I heard a lot!!! My lips are sealed. “Please drop me off at the Starbucks next to the bank”.  No “thank you”, or “have a nice day.” He was IMPORTANT.

Ride #2:  I picked him up a bit after 5p at the Cherry Creek Mall. He was headed to the light rail station off Alameda.  Traffic was, let’s say as clogged up as the ‘Space Mountain’ ride line at Disneyland.  Then an alert came up on my phone with a MAJOR WEATHER ALERT 🚨.  He was the janitor at the mall movie theatre, and was sitting exactly where Mr. Big had sat two hours before. “I think I better just have you take me home because I will get caught in the rain when I transfer from the light rail to my bus.  It will cost me but it is worth it”. So we changed the destination to his home, which was 18 miles away.  I spent six years working with folk with developmental issues. I could sense he was a person who had to work very hard for everything he does.  Sure enough, at exactly 5:32p (just like the alert said) we were in the middle of a rain and hail torrent.  He was a delight to have as a passenger.  We had a lot of laughs on our $22 ride to SW Littleton.

He has very grateful as I dropped him off, and he thanked me at least two billion times.  Give me ride #2 anytime.

Onward and Upward,

Mark