November is Upon Us

It’s that time of year again. I knew it had to be as I stood shivering in the freezing cold weather of 52 degrees, waiting for bus 50 to roll around the corner to pick up passengers at Kirkhof. As I hustled to get to Kirkhof, after briefly stopping in at work, I came to realize that I was the only person who looked underprepared for the weather.

As a 50 rolled up and the other students, eager to get a heated seat in the rear, jabbed and forced their way to the back I managed to snag a rear seat in the far right corner. And it was, of course, not heated and covered with God knows what. As I leaned slightly forward on my nasty seat, trying to avoid sitting on the substance, the bus started to roll out of Grand Valley and onto M-45. As all the other students on the bus sat quietly, iphone and smartphone screens inches from their faces, I put my phone away. Not a fancy iphone with dozens of apps, but a clunky little black verizon phone that has been dropped and thrown at least a hundred times.

Turning away from the bright, blinding lights of the iphones and unwelcoming faces, I turned to look out the window. Earlier in the Fall, starring out the window on the bus 50 route was one of my favorite things to do. Unfortunately, so many students are so absorbed in their technology they don’t even realize how beautiful and scenic the route actually is. The most beautiful part of the drive is when we first leave Grand Valley in Allendale. The trees in early autumn are heartwarmingly beautiful and tinted with shades of gold, orange, and scarlet red.

However, this only really applies to the first two months school is in session. As I stared out the window as we drove on, all the trees stood barren, scarcely a leave to be found. Whenever we passed by a tree that did have leaves on it, they were a crisp, ugly brown. Even the birds’ nests built precariously in the tops of the trees seemed barren and empty. All the trees we passed had the same melancholy disposition. They stood in the lonely, barren frigidness that is November as we drove on. And no one saw their loneliness but me.