命运冈萨雷斯
命运冈萨雷斯 rolls up to her house in Northglenn and shuts off the engine of her car. Her gaze takes in the extensive landscaping in her front yard: the river rocks, 这些花, the sod unrolled by her 4- and 11-year-old sons. She admires the bushes that have been carefully cut back. She considers how different this space looked when the house became hers two birthdays ago, and how the neighbors have offered compliments as her family made this place their own.
This home is Gonzales’s favorite place in the world. 她最美好的时刻, 她说, are when her boys and 17-year-old daughter are in their living room with her, 简单地在一起. And there’s no feeling that matches the knowledge that this home belongs to them, 因为冈萨雷斯买了.
“That’s all I wanted: a home for my kids,” 冈萨雷斯说,. “I love coming home from work and they’re waiting for me.”
她继续说道:“我为我的孩子们感到骄傲. 我很自豪能成为一个妈妈. 我为自己感到骄傲. And I’m proud of the accomplishments I have made with RTD.”
而33岁的他有很多东西, 她立即表达了两种身份, 两人都很自豪地说. “妈妈”是其中之一. “巴士操作员”是另一个. Gonzales this year will celebrate four years with RTD, having handed her then-3-month-old son to her daughter as a single mother so she could go to work with the agency.
“It’s the truth when they say you can juggle anything in your life,” 她说. “It was something I needed to do and wanted to do.”
她在丹佛16号公路上长大, so that route was the one she wanted to drive – and the one she was given. As a customer, she took this bus to school, to Elitch Gardens, to see her friends. As an operator, she shuttled around many people she grew up with, including family and friends. 有时她抱着母亲.
“My mom would say the bus operator was her daughter,” 冈萨雷斯说,. “I was so proud – and made sure I said my announcements correctly! 她很骄傲，这让我也很骄傲. All I wanted to do was make my mom and brother happy. She said my grandparents would be very proud of me.”
Gonzales has driven all over the region for RTD. “I enjoy that interaction with passengers; I kind of need that,” 她说 of her work. “I do really well on any route because I am a people person, and I care for them. 我爱他们.”
Gonzales’s interest in serving others began before she joined the agency, during the many years when she worked as a caregiver for the elderly. There is such joy, 她说, in truly seeing and hearing other human beings up close. Gonzales is thrilled now when opportunity allows for her to drive the SeniorShopper, an RTD service that brings seniors to the grocery store. Those options are usually claimed by her colleagues with more seniority.
撇开对人的兴趣不谈, 冈萨雷斯说, the transition to operating a big vehicle took some getting used to. 她还记得她第一次开公共汽车的情景. 她希望自己不会撞到路边. She considered the wide berth required to make turns different than she was used to in her own car.
“I asked [the instructors], ‘Did you guys check me?’”她开玩笑地说. “因为我对自己没有信心. But they give you pointers, they tell you how to turn.
“I kept telling everyone, I am going to drive this bus down the street.”
随着时间和练习, 冈萨雷斯说,, you eventually become one with the bus – and it feels like your own car. That makes sense, she added, when you spend that much time behind the wheel. You take note of your passengers, of their space and yours. 你会考虑周围的一切. If you have someone with disabilities, you consider how you’re taking your turns.
“If someone falls asleep,” 她说, chuckling, “that means you’re a good driver.”
当你如此沉迷于驾驶公共汽车时, your attention naturally shifts to your passengers, 冈萨雷斯说,. 谈到他们，她说:“人们会跟你说话. I think they want to talk with people who take them seriously as humans. Some people are having bad days and they take it out on you, but you can’t take it personally. Then there are the other ones who make it so great, who tell you what a great driver you are.
“有些人告诉我，我是他们一天中最美好的时光.”
While she relishes coming home, Gonzales says that coming to work each day is a pleasure. “I’m proud to be part of RTD and one of the frontline workers for my community,” 她说. “RTD has been nothing but a blessing for me and my family, because they helped me do so much for my family.”
她在经纪公司的工作, 冈萨雷斯说,, 允许她买房吗, repair her credit and take her children on vacation.
Gonzales likes to set goals for herself, and 她说 she’d like to move up within the company. But she has mixed feelings about this possibility, 她说, because she loves driving – and would miss her passengers. Whatever lies ahead, she knows, she’ll figure it out.
“I look forward to what’s to come,” 冈萨雷斯说,. “人们不知道RTD有多棒. 而我才刚刚开始.”