My Wednesday day off began with lunch with a friend in West Arvada. I decided to do a little driving from the ‘Heaven Dragon’ parking lot afterwords. It took 10 seconds and I was picking up Jason to head out on a 41 mile trip to DIA. Not a word was spoken for the first half of the ride. I have learned that not every rider wants a conversation, and so it was dead silent for the first half of the way. Then from the back seat the questions began to rain. I soon learned that he had four kids – 16, and 9 year old girls, followed by a 6 and 2 on the boy side. “My last Lyft driver said, ‘You have them at every phase, teenage drama and diapers’.” We had a fun time talking about kids, Colorado, and the upcoming Super Bowl. As we were pulling in to the drop off area I was pinged with a double shared ride, Steve and Mariel.
I circled back to level 5, Island 1,West side, and they both hopped in. Mariel was a 20-something who grabbed the back seat and Steve was a 50+ guy who got shotgun. Front seat: “I hope we are going to Boulder? I didn’t realize I ordered a shared ride”. Back seat: “Yep.” It is a 44 mile trip to Boulder. Steve began the conversation by sharing he was from Pittsburgh and he had just taken a side trip to Montana to ski before business in Boulder. We started talking about skiing. “I made my last run at Steamboat about six years ago. My knees can’t take it. I grew up skiing at Monarch, as I am from Pueblo”. Mariel said “Really! My dad is from Pueblo”. “What’s his last name”? “McCown”. “Bob or Mike?”
“Mike”. “Oh my, I know your family. Mike and I went through high school together. Your grandmother Muriel was the best English teacher ever. I am a pastor, I had your grandpa Dean’s memorial service”. The fun began.
It turns out her boss in Boulder was a fraternity brother of Steve’s. (Remember the front seat? )The energy in the conversations filled the 45 minutes with Joy. “Your Grandma Muriel was the best teacher I had in high school. We did Silas Marner and Shakespeare my junior year and advanced composition and vocabulary building my senior year. She brought out the best in her students. She respected us and expected us to give our best. We did”. Mariel’s dad Mike, was a ferry boat captain for the Seattle Transit Authority in the waterways of the Pacific NW. “My dad Bill Pumphrey, was born in Bellingham. He thought your dad had a dream job”. We agreed that our Lyft drive was more like a fun family reunion. I asked her for permission to share this with my blog. She said “Sure”. “I can still see your dad Mike, running for a touchdown our sophomore year. He was our hero. Tell him and your grandmother hi”. “For sure”.
Small world.
Onward and Upward, Mark
Lyfting Me Up 