Passing The Test

A couple of days ago, the wife suggested that we go up to the city on Friday and have dinner there. Since she was already there, it was just James and myself who had to get there. I didn't have a problem since San Francisco was just a BART ride from my 19th Street station in Oakland. My problem was James.

James didn't drive, and he was coming from the house. Originally, he and his BFF, Coby, had planned on watching a movie around noon on that day. On the way from the movie, James would be dropped off at Fremont BART for a ride to Oakland, where I would meet him. However, Coby had tennis practice in Santa Clara, and won't be headed back to Fremont not until (very) late in the afternoon. So the whole planned was quashed.

I thought to myself that somehow I needed to "test" my son and see if he was ready to be a little independent. So I devised a plan and presented it to him. The plan was for him to take the bus to BART, then the train ride to Oakland, alone. He didn't hesitate. He said he could do it, so I proceeded to map out the details.

After some research, the plan was for him to walk to the closest bus stop, on Mission & Driscoll, and take the 3:15pm #215 bus to Fremont BART. From there, he would take either the 3:45pm or 4:00pm train to Oakland, where I would meet him at the 19th Street station. I gave him the BART ticket I purchased the day before, and gave him exact change for his bus fare. I even calculated the time he needed to leave the house in order get to the bus stop, as planned.

Today was the day. At around 2:45pm, he left the house and walked, passing through Hopkins Junior High School on Driscoll. I was able to track him because of the Life360 mobile application installed on his cellphone. He texted me and said that he was at the #215 bus stop next to Hopkins and would wait there instead of proceeding to the Mission stop. I didn't know of the Hopkins stop so I doubted. He took a photo of it and sent it to me. And yes, it was a #215 stop.

I went on Google maps to check. There was a bus stop by Hopkins, but the next bus won't arrive till 4:06pm. It was 3:10pm then. I searched and found the Mission stop, and the bus would arrive at 3:25pm. I immediately called James and told him to proceed to the Mission stop so he could make the 3:25pm trip. I waited. Before I could send him a text to tell me if he was able to get on the bus, he calls me and tells me so. Perfect timing. I checked Life360, and I saw his location to be close to the BART station.

The next call I got from him was when he was on the platform waiting for the Richmond train. So far, so good. Everything going as planned.

The trip to Oakland was about 40 minutes. From time to time, I would track his whereabouts. Each time, we was getting closer to Oakland. Once he arrived at the 19th street station, the plan was for him to get out of the station and meet me under a big electronic sign next to US Bank, just outside the station on 20th & Broadway. Since I knew what time the train would be arriving, I decided to just meet him inside the station instead. So I logged off, packed up, and headed out.

Barely 5 minutes from when I got to the station, I saw James walking, earphones on, headed towards the turnstiles, as expected. He was relaxed and didn't show any sign that it was his first time travelling alone. I was so happy and proud of him. You can imagine how relieved I was. I knew that he could do it. He passed the test.

I went in and met up with him before he could even enter the turnstiles. We both took the escalator down to the bottom platform for our ride to San Francisco. We waited for more than half an hour, and met up with the wife just outside the Montgomery station. From there, our next stop was Hops & Hominy.