On Friday Dec. 2, I took a train to Rochester, NY to surprise a friend for her 40th birthday. It had been many years since I had taken the train to Rochester- since 1997 or 1998 when I was in school out there. I drove my car to Whitehall where I was picking up the train. I was early and the train was 40 minutes late. Hurry up and wait. Not one of my fortés (hence the name of the blog- just a reminder). It was still light out so I took out my knitting- a hat that I had already started over twice and I was on my third try (and it looks great now that it's actually finished.) I sat by myself and listened to an older woman talk/yell into her cell phone about visiting Vermont and the holidays and traveling here and there. She even had an ipad that she played some kind of word game on- I was impressed.
In Fort Edward and in Saratoga Springs, the train station was very quaint and a whole lot nicer than my "train station" in Whitehall (just a glass structure to stand in in case of rain). Come to find out later that in Saratoga, there was a "Polar Express" train that evening with all kinds of little kids dressed in their pajamas loading up on a train for a few hours to hear the story. Back to my story... In Saratoga, I noticed 2 women who came aboard and sat in front of me. I could tell one was foreign and the other was from NYC (thick accent). The NYC woman was an educator who had just been at a conference in Saratoga and was talking the other woman's ear off. The woman who was traveling got off at the next stop- Schenectady- with me and another man and possibly 1 or 2 other people.
While waiting for the train to stop, I asked the young woman where she was traveling from and she told me Australia. She asked me if I was going to be waiting at the station for the next train too and I told her yes. Christine had a worried look on her face, but was reassured when she realized she wouldn't be alone at the station waiting for her next train. The man also was waiting for the same train and we all sat in the waiting area and talked. Klaus, had me guess what nationality he was (which was hard because he had an English accent that was different). He's German, but schooled in England (see!) and is a pediatric neurologist, living and working in Montréal, working in England while taking the American Medical boards to work in Syracuse. (no, I don't understand it all either) Christine was a vet but is now a chiropractor and acupuncturist for large animals- mainly horses, dogs, and cats.
We had a 2+ hr layover in Schenectady so we talked for about an hour about education, what we did, jobs, and then we decided to go to the pub conveniently located right next door to get something to eat (and drink) before our train west. We all had a beer and a cheese burger. We talked more about our families and our future endeavors and decided to have one more beer before the train came at 7:30. At 7:15, we were chugging our beers, paying the tab (which I didn't have enough cash but gave what I could and promised to pay Klaus back when we met again- whenever that will be). We ran back to the station (literally- not good with beer sloshing around your insides), grabbed our bags and ran up the stairs to the track and tried not to throw up. We laughed and of course decided to sit together. Klaus was on his way to Syracuse to finish up his boards, I was headed to Rochester, and Christine was taking the train to Chicago and then catching another train to Denver. She had decided to splurge and get a sleeper car for this night, so she invited us to her sleeper car for wine (whew! not much room for that). We further discussed the meaning of life and all that- just lots of fun talking to Christine and Klaus. We exchanged addresses and emails before Klaus departed. Christine and I kept talking for the hour or so after Syracuse. We talked about relationships- good and bad- before I had to go. It was such a great night.
What I noticed was that we are all in transition in our lives and God put us together just for a brief moment- it was awesome. We aren't alone in our struggles and questioning- I found 2 other people who are just as confused. Maybe they seem more together and have a job (well, I do too now) but they are still in search for something. They too, are pursuing.
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