On Friday afternoon, I came home from work, packed up the kid and her stuff, and headed back out to Oakland for a little Happy Hour with co-workers.  When we transferred between Muni and BART, the escalator that does down to the train platform was out of service.  That meant we’d have to walk down two flights of stairs together with the stroller.  So, I packed everything up, folded the stroller, and took Kumquat by the hand.  We didn’t take more than 4 steps before a nice man behind me offered to take the stroller down for me.  It was so helpful because then I was able to pick up Kumquat and carry her down the stairs at a quicker pace.  I thanked the nice guy and we went our separate ways.

When our train arrived, it was packed with commuters heading out of the city.  I had Kumquat in one arm and the stroller in my other hand.  Once we squeezed our way in, I found a nice spot for us to stand, held the strap hanging from the bar above me, and straddled the stroller to keep it from tipping onto someone’s legs.  Before the train even moved, a nice lady got up and gave me her seat.  She was too far in the crowd for me to make it over there without plowing a few people over so I declined.  Then a lady behind me kindly said, “You should go and I’ll take the stroller over for you.”

Wow, people can be pretty nice sometimes.  Or I must have looked really pathetic.  Either way, we were snuggled safely in seat amongst the crowd of commuters heading under the bay and down 4 stops to Rockridge Station.  And thanks to some very nice strangers, we arrived safely and comfortably and made it to our destination without delay or injury.  We also had a nice time at Happy Hour but the ride into Oakland was the most memorable part of the evening.  Thank goodness the trains on the way back into the city were super empty.