The Sun Rises While She Is Underground: Part 1

I rarely share my days occurrences at family dinner without prompting, but yesterday was different. Here’s the hard truth I learned yesterday; I lack in dedication and commitment. See I may have minced my words before, but then I met a girl who I had met countless times. I had made eye contact with her, introduced myself to her, and even laughed alongside her. I thought I had met her, but I had not met her at all. I had done what I do with every other person I presume I’ll walk right by the next day, and treated our interactions as polite introductions. Then, I interviewed her randomly for my “Humans of Grace” section of the newspaper, which you’re probably finding out about for the first time right now. That’s cool because most weeks I feel like I’m finding out about it for the first time too. Our interview started pretty slow, and then, casually Abisola Fashakin slipped in that she commutes three hours back and forth to Grace Church School and does year-round sports.

The first thing that came to mind was that morning at 8:14, when I wrote “traffic ughhhh” on the sign-in sheet for school, eyes dreary because I had been binging on Thrones the night before watching the Baratheon’s take a massive loss. That was me willingly staying up to 2 am, (mom, gasp!), meanwhile Abisola had been home only three hours. That’s how long it takes me to submit to the reality of my homework and stop boosting to the leaderboards on slither. Later that night, while I wake to get in my late night snack, (4:00 a.m.) Abisola, or Abby as her friends call her, had been walking for awhile through the darkness to get to the public bus in Hempstead Long Island. Then she gets on a lengthy train to Jamaica Queens, and another to get to Broadway and Lafayette. The sun rises while she is underground. Abisola very rarely gets to see her parents on the weekdays, and weekends are spent compensating for sleep deprivation which throws her sleep cycle even more off the rails. Imagine waking up for school at four in the morning, after going to bed only three hours before hand; every day. I regret every waking minute I spent complaining about homework. Did I mention she came to see March Madness last night? That she is committed to three seasons of sports? Best part is you will never hear her complain.

If I didn’t have family mealtime every night I would be a sad little boy, meanwhile Abisola heats up leftovers, hours after her parents have fallen asleep, and dashes upstairs to cram in homework. Her last family meal was New Years. My mom wakes me every morning, but for Abby her mom has hours of sleep left before waking up. If I miss a train I delay my trip by five or ten minutes… for Abby missing a train makes for a miserable, I mean miserable morning. From an outsider’s perspective Abisola has a loyal group of friends, but making plans with them is a little tough when you’re always exhausted or struggling to keep your head above water with schoolwork. So as she tugged at parts of my heart I didn’t know existed, I asked, breathless, if it was all worth it? When she raised her eyes to meet mine I knew my answer.

Check back in for part two next week!