I suppose most of us are creatures of habit, and I'm no exception. Common sense and mystery novels would tell me that the habitualization (perhaps even ritualization) of my life puts me at risk for kidnapping or assassination, but that hasn't yet dissuaded me. I wake up at roughly the same time every day, get ready in the same way and same order. And I am almost always on the same train to downtown and most definitely on the same bus to work.

Apparently, I'm not the only one. Every day I see the same people at the bus stop. When I walk up the stairs from the subway to the bus stop I automatically search for my fellow travelers to be sure I haven't missed the bus. I've seen these people every day for the past several months, and while I don't know even their first names, I feel that they are a part of my life.

There's the annoying woman. I can't put my finger on exactly what about her annoys me, but even when she and I found ourselves standing face to face on a crowded train, neither of us bothered to comment on how strange it was to see each other out of our normal context. She wears an informal uniform of sorts, the same sensible low-heleed shoes, the same lightweight plaid raincoat, and the same tailord pants that fall just to her ankles, leaving her looking a bit as if she was stranded in the early 90s. Regardless of time or weather, she always looks anxious , constantly glacing at her watch and then down the street in the direction of the bus. And she invariably makes a call on her cell phone just before the bus arrives. I can almost predict the arrival of the bus just from her phone habits. I have a theory that she's calling the bus driver to ask where the hell he is.

I am hardly an outgoing or social person, and I spend neary every second of my commute reading, not exactly condusive to forming connections with my fellow travelers. But even once I am on the bus even I occasionally glance up. And I've noticed a couple who seem to appear on my bus about once a week. They always have their bikes with them, and though they get on the bus at the same stop they depart at different stops, the woman at my stop, and the man shortly before us. Perhaps they would not have piqued my interested, except that the woman seemed so familiar to me. It took my a while to place, but I realized that she reminded me of someone who had lived in my dorm at college. And then I forgot all about it. But today as I was getting off the bus I realized that it could actually be her. And through the wonders of the internet, I now know that it was.

Somehow this big city seems so much smaller sometimes than the small towns I've lived in.