I'm No Physicist, But Shoes Win Every Time...

God knows I’m not a physicist, but if I were riding on a BART train this morning it would be using less energy than it was 2 ½ months ago. I’m sure in terms of energy how much less energy it needs if the train is 8 pounds lighter. I’m sure it’s not much at all, but for me it’s huge news. I got on the scale and I’ve lost 8 pounds!

Since I’m not on riding BART today, I’m actually in Chicago, I thought I’d share my first ride on BART. It was the summer between 6th and 7th grade so I must have been about 12 years old. I was in the city with my Dad, but I’m not sure why. We lived in Marin
County at the time and BART doesn’t have service there. I’m not sure exactly where we were, but I remember my shoe breaking. My dad knew that shopping was abundant in around Market Street by Union Square. He didn’t want to have to take the car so he said we would ride on BART. BART was still fairly new and I had never ridden on. I had heard a lot about it and was excited about riding on it. I remember Dad buying the tickets and trusting me to hold on to my own, warning me not to loose it since we would need to it get off the train as well as on. I was so afraid that I would drop it.

Well I managed not to loose my ticket and they let me off the train. I don’t remember a lot of the details about the train ride, except for that it was really exciting to ride on it for the very first time, but I can give you every detail about the shoes. Since I was shopping with my dad, and he didn’t really care about what I got as long as it didn’t take forever, I got to pick out what ever I wanted. I remember the shoes exactly. They were brown sandals, the must have summer shoe that year for all the girls my age. I was so excited to get them! They were a sandal that my mom would never let me get but since I was with my dad I was able to get them.

I really don’t know what was more exciting that day, finally getting to ride BART for the first time or getting the shoes. It must be the shoes because 34 years later I still remember exactly what the shoes look like.