The loco bus
Was barely running
Trafficking in creep after creep
At Lake & Michigan
It was sink or swim
Facing too soon departed
To be won or lost
By foot
Right, left, right, left, right, left, right
Miraculously walking on Water St.
Run
Run forced
Run
Will it be
Decided by a minute minute
No bus in site
Faded to stay
In Chicago another day
Only then realizing
The line I had crossed
As pre-sumptuously late
Other poor soles
As per usual waiting
Fore the Toledo Megabus
Mega-late
This poem emanates from my trip earlier this summer out to Iowa. This poem is from the last of four legs of a Megabus trip. As it turns out, two of the four buses broke down and had to replaced with regular tour buses. This poem is about the serendipity of things not always working out as planned. Oddly, it never occurred to me that the bus I was racing to on foot would be late. While the bus ended up being two hours late, this was much better than missing the bus by mere minutes! What a beautiful thing that a bus being two hours late is a cause for celebration! I am a big fan of serendipity. As a recovering professional planner, I have spent much of my life planning to “make things happen.” Fortunately, I have witnessed so many times in my life that my plans not turning out as I liked turned out even better. As I have been known to say: God never gives me what I want; God gives me something much better! My daughter now parrots back to me the saying: If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans. More recently, you might find me repeating the Niels Bohr quip: “Prediction is difficult, especially about the future.” 
Though perhaps John Lennon said it best: “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” May your life be overflowing with wonderful surprises.
