This afternoon I took the 74 from Fremont to Queen Anne and I over heard a conversation between four high school-aged girls talking excitedly about ditching school. An older lady, probably in her fifties, looked on in disbelief. Her facial expressions were not hard to decipher. She was even leaning forward to hear more about what these girls were saying. I kept thinking, ‘How come none of these girls care if anyone overhears their conversion?’

The girls were conspiring to commit identity fraud by having one bold girl call their school posing as another girl’s mother or friend of the family. One girl actually called the school and when she hung up the phone, in victory, another girl said, “Ok call for me now.”

It was a beautiful early fall day in Seattle so could you really blame them? As I sat there I imagined adults all over the city wishing they could leave work and go outside while they looked out of office build windows instead of a bus or a car that would transport them to a more agreeable place on a sunny day.

I used to work with a woman who would look out her windows on beautiful Seattle days and proclaim, “I think they should give people all sunny days off in Seattle.” If you’re not from around here that means that businesses wouldn’t be losing much productivity from workers, because it’s hardly sunny.

A few stops later the girls got off the bus and politely said, “Thank you” to the driver. The driver, in return, said, “Have a good weekend.” I think the moral of this observation is that sometimes it’s okay to skip school or work and go outside on a sunny day in Seattle. It won’t be long now until the long, gray days of winter set in and going inside will feel the same as the weather outside.