Trains

Isn't it funny how our senses can trigger the recall of things that happened to us in the past? For example, hearing trains early this morning brought back more than a few memories. I've always loved trains. I was born in San Diego and lived there for the first six years of my life. We lived on the side of a canyon, and back behind us, somewhere across the canyon, there was a train track. I can distinctly recall this old apple tree that I used to sit by, with my ear to the tree, listening to the train through the trunk.

I remember the first time I ever rode on a "real" train with my kids. We had an office of our Home Instead business in Modesto. Patrick had gone up to Modesto the day before, and I went up there on the train with Kelly (2) and Joe, who was about 6 months old, I think. Joe was in a car seat, I had the diaper bag, another bag full of work related materials, and Patrick's suit jacket, which he had forgotten at home. I hung up the suit jacket in a designated area, and then tried to figure out how to keep track of my active and independent daughter while keeping an eye on our things and Joe. By the time we reached Modesto, I was exhausted and frazzled. I got off the train (which only stopped briefly), pleased that I had managed not to lose anyone or anything, only to discover as the train prepared to pull away that I had forgotten Patrick's coat. Patrick was not known for being patient with forgetful people, and I started to panic and called out to the conductor to wait. I think he thought I forgot one of my kids on the train, because he stopped the train and obtained the coat for me. I was so grateful that I cried. Phew!

Another train memory I have is related to Joe. We were driving back from visiting my parents, and we were in Mojave. Joe was about 4 at the time, and he was completely obsessed with Superman. We had been talking on the trip about a scene in one of the Superman movies where he squeezes coal and makes it into diamonds. Joe was intrigued and wanted to know if coal really makes diamonds. I told him, yes, and explained how it worked. Then he insisted that he wanted coal for himself. We knew that coal sometimes fell off of the trains as they traveled, so when we stopped for fuel, we walked the track looking for coal. We found a few pieces and gave them to Joe. He actually gave one of those pieces to his friend Amanda, explaining that it could make a diamond. My friend Lora and I joke sometimes about her daughter and my son being engaged because he gave her a "diamond."

In June 2004, I took Kelly and Joseph to Washington, DC. I had never been there, but I wanted to go and I wanted Kelly and Joe to experience it. We rode the subways everywhere that we couldn't walk.  Because those subway stops were so fast and the doors closed so quickly, I was very anxious about one of the kids being left on the subway and had given them specific instruction about what to do if that happened. Fortunately, it never did! But I thought it did a few times, because one of the children would get behind me as we got off and I'd turn around to look for them and not see them. I always felt like my heart would jump out of my chest when I couldn't see them. We had a great time and saw lots of monuments and memorials, took the last tour of the capitol building before they closed it for President Reagan's funeral, and really loved being there.

My most recent memory was when I traveled to Hanford on the train with a leadership class. I was able to sit in the lead car and watch from the front of the train as we traveled through the valley. I loved it!

I've always dreamed of taking the kids on a cross country trip on the train. The cost of it is just too prohibitive with four kids, but maybe when I get rich....