How Did You Get Here Today?

I was on a call with a former colleague who was telling me about his recent move to Massachusetts. I shared that I stayed in Springfield, MA for one night on my way to Vermont. He started asking “Did you take I-87 to…” to which I interrupted him noting that my role as passenger was to put the directions in google maps and turn a podcast on, making no memory of the highways traveled. As a NYC resident who drives less frequently, I am not as intimately familiar with I-87 as I am with the C to West 4th street.

In the age of google maps and transit apps, there is little need to know how to get anywhere since your phone will lead the way, letting you know that there is heavier than usual traffic, train delays, and detours up ahead. This former colleague may have been interested in knowing what highway I took or was just simply starting our conversation with a non-controversial question.

Behind the need to fill the air with easy topics such as highway roads was a genuine curiosity though, rooted in our desires to collect routes. There’s a fascination in knowing all of the ways you could arrive at a certain point and by asking me how I arrived in Springfield, I added to his collection of routes to Massachusetts. The interest is less in the highway itself, but in reminding ourselves how many roads we can take to arrive at a point, both figuratively and literally. It’s not that you took I-95 to the party - it’s that you went to college with the party host and met when you were assigned as random roommates and now 20 years later, you are still best friends. It’s not that you took Amtrak to your office - it’s that you moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to family and community so now you ride the Acela to work 1 day a week. It’s not that you rode your bike to the coffeeshop to meet up with an old colleague - it’s that you are at a career crossroads and need advice from anyone who will give it.

On Season 3, episode 1 of The West Wing, the Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman has to address a group of high school students. Upon greeting them, he asks “How did you get here” and they respond in unison “the bus.” He says “I meant, how did you..” and the teacher jumps in to say all of the students are part of a Presidential program. He wanted to know what paths they took to lead them to an exclusive White House visit and Q&A.

Next time someone asks me how I got to Training Lab, I’ll them that I took a fitness class at Crunch in 2015 that changed my life and taught me what real fitness was about, and soon joined ClassPass, so I could become a fitness queen. Next time someone asks me how I got to the office, I’ll them that I was laid off in 2023, decided to start my own consulting business, and now have access to a few client offices. Next time someone asks me how I arrived at the theater, I’ll them that my parents took me Broadway shows all the time as kids, and even though I continued to go with my parents well into adulthood, I go even more now that my Mom is a widow and invites me.

Where are you right now? And how did you really get there? I’d love to know.