A Missed Opportunity to Drive the Subway

Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Dear Diary:

One of the reasons I have tried a few new things from time to time stems from an incident that happened when I was 5, more than 50 years ago.

My parents had taken my sister and me into the city â€" maybe we saw a show; I can’t remember. But along the way, we took the subway - for me, the first time. We went into the first car, and my sister, Adrienne, and I rushed to the front to look out the door window at the tracks speeding by. I turned and looked into the keyhole of the motorman’s tiny compartment and shouted to Adrienne that I could see “a man in there!”

Suddenly, the door popped open and the motorman said, “Hey kid, you want to drive?”

This was my moment to do what nobody I know to this day has ever done â€" drive a subway train.

I laughed and got all shy and said, “No sir.”

The door shut. In so many ways.

And looking back, I realize that a lot of the choices I have made â€" jumping into new jobs, racing a car around a speedway, learning to fly a plane â€" can be traced back to that day. I have never wanted to say, “I coulda but I didn’t.” And life has been pretty interesting.

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