Here's looking at you, Trax

So, I'm addicted to Trax.

As most of you know, I am living in Sandy during this semester, commuting every day to Salt Lake City to my job as an editorial intern in the Church Office Building on Temple Square. It's pretty much the best job ever - I get to make pretty programs for the daily organ recitals in the Tabernacle, edit guidelines on how to administer the Church's Facebook pages, and wear a skirt every day (okay, so I hate that last part). Overall, though, I love it. I love seeing the temple all lit up in the mornings and evenings, I love taking a shortcut through the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on my way to and from the Church Office Building, I love how my co-workers are always cheerful and funny and creative (one guy has already made me a balloon purple poodle and a blue cobra, and lent me a pretty snazzy looking Mr. Potatohead for my bare desk), and I love going downstairs to eat lunch in the cafeteria while the piano man (Why, of COURSE there's a guy playing the piano in the cafeteria!!!) plays "Some Enchanted Evening" and "On the Street Where You Live."

One thing I do not love is the commute. Though I get free parking in the Conference Center, the time lost, the wearing of my nerves, and the price of gas are significant drawbacks, and after only two days of driving to work, I determined to take the plunge and experiment with Trax. And I LOVED IT.

Oh, Trax! How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love how punctual you are. Only once has a train ever been more than one minute late. Sometimes, the knowledge of this fact is the only thing that motivates me to get up every morning at 6, to the admiration of my roommates, who view any hour in the morning before 10 am as "ungodly."

I love how many seats and doors there are in your carriages, how I always have a place to sit and curl up with my book for a heavenly 30 minutes, neither too long nor too short. I love how non-crowded you are in comparison to the Metro stations in D.C., where I lived in constant fear of losing my purse or my foot at each entry and exit.

I love the cute little signs and names of stations along the rails (Fashion Place West? Meadowbrook? Ballpark? Sooooooo cute). It does make me ever so fondly recall the Foggy Bottom Metro stop in D.C.

I love how cheap you are - my student bus card from last semester is good for the rest of the school year, despite my having graduated, and no one ever looks at it, so I could probably get away with riding for free, but that wouldn't be right (though it would be ironic when I'm doing it so I can get to my job AT THE CHURCH). My biggest reason for not using the Metro more in D.C. was due to the cost (the doors would actually tell you how much money you were losing EVERY TIME you went through them. I eventually couldn't deal with the guilt anymore), but you have taken away that burden. Bless you, Trax.

I love how warm you are, especially after I figured out that I shouldn't sit so close to the door if I don't want to get my feet blasted with cold air every time the door opens.

I love how convenient you are. It takes me about 6 minutes to get from my house to the Midvale Center station, and I already have a "usual" parking spot that is close and nearly always empty.

I love, yes I do, even the crazy people who are always there without fail to entertain the rest of us. Whether it be the Sherlock-Holmes-coat-wearing man with a Mark Twain hairstyle excitedly informing me about the state of Morgan Freeman's left hand, or a group of fast-speaking Brazilians (fortunately, they all swear fluent American) whose faces and gestures were so expressive you couldn't tell if they were about to break into a song or a fist-fight, or even the gentleman who screamed "The ALMIGHTY!!!!!" three times (possibly with a megaphone) in the back part of the train. There's plenty of fun and excitement on Trax, should I ever forget my book or should Matt be unavailable to text me on the ride.

This week, I missed my train on Tuesday, and subsequently spent an additional unplanned 2 1/2 hours in my car. I realized then how truly addicted and devoted I have become to Trax. So much so that I have already showed up early enough twice to catch the train BEFORE my regular train. Which is even more wonderful, because it's less crowded and I get to work early and I get to see a faint hint of moonlight around the temple steeples which is just gorgeous.

So here I am, loving my third week at my internship, loving the money I save in gas and the time I gain in reading and free entertainment twice a day. I owe it all to you, Trax.