Pleasantly surprised

Go figure. Who knew the people on that side of the river were so nice?

Andrew and I had no idea how friendly the people of New Jersey were until we ventured out on the PATH into Jersey City for an apartment viewing. It started when a woman struck up a conversation with us on the train. It was my first time riding the PATH and if it hadn't been for Andrew, I'd have no idea where I was. She approached us, asking if she was on the right train. Luckily, Andrew knew and our conversation floated along amicably from there, until we reached our stop at Pavonia Street. I was struck by how talkative and genuinely nice this woman was as I exited the train. Usually on my commutes through Manhattan the general rule of thumb seems to be head-down, eyes on your own business...

Just as we reached the top of the terminal, another woman overheard us looking for the light rail and took it upon herself to give us directions to the closest light rail stop...all while holding the door open for us and our stroller.

We followed the woman's directions to the light rail, which we had never taken, when we were intercepted by another kind Jerseyan, who, with her partner, showed us where to buy and stamp our tickets, then helped us transfer light rails when it was realized that we were on the wrong one.

We got off at the same stop as the woman and her partner to transfer and they went on their way, bidding us luck. Just as we were remarking to each other how friendly the people of New Jersey are, a couple, who had overheard us saying it was our first light rail ride, approached us to let us know that the stop we were at to transfer was a dangerous one. They pointed to all the police stationed around that stop and let us know that it wouldn't be a good idea for us to stop here on a normal day. The police were there because someone had been stabbed in the adjacent parking lot earlier in the week and that stop was infamous for muggings. Grim news, but we were thankful for their insight into the area.

Then, when we reached our destination, yet another woman approached us and pointed us in the direction of an elevator that we could take instead of the large flight of stairs that would take us up to the main road.

Seven strangers from New Jersey. Every single one of them took it upon themselves to help make our commute not only easier, but more pleasant. Some went out of their way to do so.

What I expected to be a pain-in-the-ass trip into our sister state turned out to be pleasantly...PLEASANT. And though the next statement may not fall into the context of this blog...I am optimistic.