Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Train

After dropping Caleb off at the Wallace College place this morning I was delayed by a train. I heard the horn blowing as I was leaving the parking lot and wondered from whence it came. I noticed that vehicles had already stopped at the crossing. The lights were blinking, the bell was ringing and the bar was blocking the way. As the train passed I looked to see how many engines it had. You can tell if it is a long train or not by the number of engines pulling it, most of the time. There was only one. It was a short one. As the train passed I realized that I had forgotten just how enchanting trains are. Now "enchanting" is not a word that I just throw around. It has to be a specific occasion. A special specific occasion. I guess what made this encounter enchanting was that I was not so caught up in getting somewhere that I missed the beauty of the moment. How can tons of iron rolling by pulled by a gigantic diesel powered engine be beautiful? Maybe the beauty is not found in what you see, but what you feel. As the train rolled by I could hear its special unique rhythm, a squeal, a squeak, a thud. As the train rolled by I could feel the ground tremble, a gentle sort of tremble. As the train rolled by I felt peace. Thanks train.