Started out my morning with no self-discipline. Decided I was going to sleep in and start Lyft late. I’ve noticed that 4/5 days of the weekday, the time between 10-12 is usually the slowest with few rides and no surcharge and this is the time I decided to drive, but right when I left my house, I got a request from mister firefighter Kenny. I started talking and excited to tell him that I’m his neighbor and rambling about things that he probably didn’t take an interest in. We then talked about how we ended up living where we were and he said he just finished his probation and is now officially an, as he said, “un-handcuffed” firefighter! Kudos to him because I have talked to firefighters before and being a firefighter in the city is cut-throat and not an easy process. I was telling him about how I got here in this city. That I moved up to the city after finishing school and I have always wanted to explore San Francisco, the city basically in my backyard, and I thought I had to get a secure 9-5 job with a company and I did. I moved up here the moment I landed the job. I told him my career and life after college and how I ended up being a Lyft driver (which is a whole other story), and he asked me how old I was.
“25.”
“When I was 25, one thing I thought about doing but didn’t get a chance to do is to just travel and explore the world with no responsibilities. I’m 31 and I’ve been in the firefighter service for 8 years now to get to this point and I have my obligations. I wish I traveled and took that leap.”
It’s funny he said that because I just got a contract position with a company that will allow me to save enough money to close off some loose ends with my finances and also save a chunk in my savings and the first thing that comes to mind without a doubt is to take a sabbatical leave, do nothing, no responsibilities, no societal pressure, no information overload to figure out what the heck I want to do, and just travel and learn.
Firefighter Kenny was a great mentor and he’s also my neighbor too! He definitely helped validate my choice to travel this year a little bit more. It takes getting over fear and pressure from family, society, myself to really do something that I’ve been meaning to do before it’s doesn’t make sense to do it anymore.
Thanks Kenny for being a great person, serving this crazy city of San Francisco and being a great passenger.
I think I was his first Lyft ride too because he didn’t know how the payment worked.
Salut Mr. Firefighter,
Dandelion Traveler
dandeliontraveler 