A Three-Mile Freight Train

I love freight trains and the longer the better. I like the sound they make rolling down the track. I like reading the graffiti found on older boxcars. I even enjoy the wait as the train goes by ever so slowly. However, what I especially love about freight trains is the release of memories my mind captured many years ago. When I see a freight train, I think of my dad. He loved them first, especially those that seemed to be “three-miles long.”

Southern Railroad had a huge presence in my little North Georgia town located in the foothills of the Appalachians. We could not get very far from the community in any direction without crossing the railroad tracks. The various tones of the distant whistles echoed from each compass direction as trains rolled by all day and all night.

 When I was a young girl being shuttled from piano lessons to ball practice to club meetings to church events, my dad was the chauffeur. So many times, he would stop at a railroad crossing listening for the loud whistle hoping for the train to appear around the bend. It drove me crazy. I did not have time to wait on a train.

 Then one day I changed my mind. We approached the tracks and there came the train. There were no barriers or lighted gates in those days. My dad could have crossed the track with plenty of time to spare, but he stopped. He looked at me and said, “Nothing better than a three-mile freight train. It gives you time to think, to read, to stretch your legs or to talk to whoever is with you.” My dad wanted us to talk.

He told me stories of his childhood and his Textile league baseball days. He would ask me about school, piano lessons and the latest boyfriend. Oh, and there was a string of jokes to tell. He loved to tell a funny joke.

As the years marched on and he could no longer drive, I had the privilege of chauffeuring him around town. We wouldn’t be gone ten minutes when he’d ask if I had money. So, I would dig in my purse, the ash tray and the floor board looking for money. It was a ritual we both loved. He would laugh and start looking in the truck side pockets. Finally, we would have enough coins to buy a few Krystals and a drink.

We would picnic at the Oostanaula riverbank and talk and listen for the train whistles. We would ride down to the switching tracks to watch the engines and remember days gone by way too fast.

In these microwave days of hustle and bustle, consider yourself lucky when you’re delayed by a freight train and pull out your cell phone. Call your parents or your spouse, your children or grandchildren or just call a friend or neighbor to say hello. It’s a great time to talk to one another while you still can!

Good-bye 2016! Welcome 2017!

I love the few days between Christmas and New Year’s Day. As I type, I look over at my unlighted Christmas tree with the hundreds of ornaments no longer flickering in the warm glow. The presents are gone. The stockings are empty. The dried and prickly greenery of broken cedar and pine branches no longer provide the fragrance of Christmas. The carolers on my piano have stopped singing.  I'll put away all the Christmas sheet music. Two weeks of festive decorating will be gone and packed away in plastic crates in a matter of hours.  I'll always have the joy in my heart brought forth in a manger.

Now I start the task of decorating for spring. Yes, once Christmas is over, I skip to spring. 2016 has been a fast year for me, maybe that’s why!  It is true that the older you get the faster time passes.

My husband and I managed to check a lot of items off our bucket list in 2016. We closed our antique business – finally – and stored everything in a rented locker space! We’ve been in and out of several antique malls and I’m happy (and hoping) we are out for good—at least for the time being!

We drove across country to the Grand Canyon, Monterrey Valley, the Alamo and saw amazing sights in between those stops. We saw a fabulous Rod Stewart show in Las Vegas – check! We heard our favorite groups at the National Quartet Convention in Tennessee. We spent time with our grandsons and their parents most every month in Florida. We enjoyed time with our church family and other senior adults at two senior adult conferences. We also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary.

We played with our five fur babies, our chow and Heidi, a mixed bloodhound. We watched a lot of NCIS reruns and ate a lot of great food. I managed to write a recipe book with a lot of my mother's and grandmother's favorite dishes. It is being edited.

My husband enjoys his Woodmizer sawmill and cut a lot of lumber this year. We enjoyed the social events with other sawyers, too.

But many items did not get a check mark. I did not finish my three novels started in years past. We did not finish our wrap around front porch, bathroom or install a wood-board fence around the pasture. We cried when our sweet Nero (part lab) who was 80 something in human years and our little Shep (part Pyrenees) crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

So now to the real reason I like the week before the New Year –  I get a fresh start. I make my list of everything I didn’t get completed, the trips I want to take, the people I want to meet, the novels I want to write and the puppies I want to adopt!

2016 was good for me and I hope for you, too! Welcome 2017! (What are your plans for the new year?)