It is good

The above is a photo of the luggage cart at the Union Station in Denver. There are many such anachronisms in rail travel. I like it for that reason.

For instance, as I sat and waited for the train I was catching to leave town, I had plenty of time because it was late. (On the way back, it was early.) There was a very pretty young woman who sat across from me on the huge wooden benches waiting.

She had chipped red nail polish on her fingers and bright blue eye shadow on her eyelids. She had a massive suit case. After a while, we struck up a conversation. She was going to Washington to meet her husband as he returned from Iraq. She was unable to fly because of an aneurism, so she would spend 3 days on the train in anxious excitement about seeing her husband. She had packed his belongings as well as her own, and had a lot of heavy bags to carry (they were too heavy to check - imagine this, on the train if your bags are too heavy to check, you just carry them on board the train). As we chatted, she became distracted - and then called out, "Michelle?" Another woman came over, but failed to recognize her. So, she was forced to say, "remember? We were in jail together?" She then looked at me and said "we used to be bad, but we are good people now." And although she may have seen a nice old lady knitting who she was afraid of shocking with her past misdeeds when she looked at me, when I heard this, I knew that she was someone I liked even more. We talked more on the train and I discovered that she is sober 2 and a half years. How wonderful.

Those are the kinds of things I really enjoyed about taking a train trip. There is none of that creepy security like at the airport, and it made me feel more, not less, secure. The time slows down, both waiting for the train and being on the train.

I got to meet a young woman who is sober for 2 and a half years. Going to meet her husband coming home from Iraq. How wonderful is that?

It is good to be sober and I thank God every day for it.