Dawn Phelps
Columnist
It was a Wednesday, a day that was busier than we had expected. That morning, as usual, I made “the list” of things I needed to accomplish that day.
I met with some friends about mid-morning—an enjoyable time. Then, a little after twelve noon, my husband Tom and I headed to a nearby town for errands and to buy a few groceries. We are aware of the need to not dilly-dally, since we both needed to get back to Miltonvale for meetings that evening.
All went well, and we were soon headed toward home. We were only a few miles from the turnoff to our little town when we spotted a potential problem! That’s when I saw the arm over the railroad track ahead of us begin to slowly drop. I thought, “Oh, no!”
My heart sank because I knew a train would soon be crossing the highway ahead of us. And when I saw the nose of the train enter the crossing, it was not moving very fast! I said to Tom, “I hope there are not a hundred cars”—that’s sometimes the case for the trains out our way.
I nervously looked at my watch, knowing I needed to get a couple of things done at my shop before the meeting, and I also needed to put away groceries. I was not interested in counting the train cars—I just wanted to spot the caboose so we could get moving again.
While watching the cars slowly lumber down the track, we talked about our options. There was a dirt road that turned to the right just ahead of us, but we knew the train was probably long enough to block another crossing to the south anyway.
So, we sat and waited and watched, mostly watching for the caboose. As we watched, we talked about another time I had watched a slow-moving train with our youngest grandson, Will Thomas, as the train moved along the track in Miltonvale. Will was about three at the time, and getting to watch a train was a treat for him.
We kept Will on Tuesdays, and he loved going to Sr. Citizens with us for lunch. After lunch, Will enjoyed watching a few of the guys play pool. He was supposed to sit in a chair a little distance from the pool table, but before long, he would quietly move closer to the pool table for a better look.
After a bit, I decided it was time to take Will home, but Tom stayed. Just as Will and I were leaving, we could hear a train in the distance coming down the track. The railroad track is in full view of the Sr. Citizen’s building, and we soon saw the arm slowly drop down, blocking the track for vehicles.
Since Will and I were not in hurry, I pulled the car up to a safe distance from the track and put the car in park. Will wanted to count the cars, so I counted, “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight….”
Like on that recent Wednesday, the train was not moving very fast. “Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen….” After many more train cars, the caboose finally appeared. Finally, the end of the train!
As the arm over the track was going up, Will piped up with, “Make it do it again, Grandma!” I inwardly smiled, amused that Will thought that as a grandma I could actually conjure up another train for him watch, just so we could count the cars again! He must have thought I have some kind of super-grandma power!
I tried to explain to Will that trains only come through Miltonvale a couple of times a day, and that I could not make another train come through. But it was interesting that in Will’s little mind, he thought I might make it happen!
Will’s remark stuck with me through the years, kind of reminding me of the Serenity Prayer “to accept the things I cannot change. . . and the wisdom to know the difference.”
As we grow older, we realize there are things we cannot change. For instance, we cannot go backward in time and live our childhoods again; we can only live forward. And just like with Will’s train that day, we only get to live life once.
There is a quote by a Greek philosopher that compares time to a river. It says, “Time, like a river, is a continuous flow that carries us forward with each moment passing and never returning.” Time goes by quickly. No rewinds. No replays.
But the good news! We have “today!” So, make your “list” and live each day thoughtfully and deliberately, and make every moment count.
Pretty soon that old “caboose” will coming down the track, and even grandmas can’t make life do it again!
