People who read my blog regularly know that I'm originally from Nebraska. Not only am I from Nebraska, but I LOVE Nebraska. I talk about it all the time (as do most people who are from the state). There's just a special pride that comes from living in the heartland.
I left Nebraska in 2008 to pursue career opportunities and it is here, (the Washington, D.C. area) that I was introduced to amazing things like public transportation. Not long after I moved here, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced it would be getting new cars for its metro system, and those cars were to be made in a plant in Nebraska.
*cue excited freak out*
At the time, this was the most exciting news to come out of Nebraska in like for-EVER. Well, it was for me, anyway. Ask my co-workers. I'm sure they can tell you more stories about me talking about Nebraska than they can count stars in the sky.
Fast forward to today -- June 12, 2015. After great anticipation, I finally, finally got to ride one of the new Nebraska-made metro cars. Of course I had to take pictures. Of course people on the train looked at me kinda funny. When I explained myself, the woman sitting next to me piped up.
"Oh, I did the same thing," she said.
Wait. What?
You guessed it. My fellow metro rider is also from Nebraska!
But wait. It gets even better! Not only is she from Nebraska, she's from Aurora, a town of 5,000 people where I worked as a newspaper reporter.
I feel like the universe is smiling down on me today. How totally awesomely insane is it that on my first ride on Nebraska-made metro cars (which I've been anticipating for almost five years) I end up sitting next to a woman from the very town where I held my first post-college job??!!