Breakfast on the Train

So I just had the most wonderful breakfast on the train. Rather than taking my order in the car, I went to the diner car to kind of see what was going on. There is a policy on the train that puts parties of 1 or 2 together to conserve space. I was fortunate enough to sit with a lovely older black woman whose name I did not get (I will call her Rose). The fun started when Rose realized that she knew who our waitress was, but the waitress had no idea who she was. It seems that they both lived in South Carolina a few years ago and met at her (the waitress's) sister-in-law's funeral. Watching this waitress try and figure it out, while the woman gave clues was quite a treat.

We started talking about the delays from the night before, she was to have gotten on the train in Spartanburg at 11:50 last night, but didn't end up on it until around 4am. She is going to Maryland (District Heights) on a "mercy mission" to help her daughter. Her daughter has taken to caring for an 8 month old cousin whose single mom has been shipped out to Germany with the military. Unfortunately, her daughter doesn't really have any experience with taking care of children and is getting her "butt kicked." Rose will be there for a few days while the cousin waits to come home on leave to get her son (his passport was delayed and he was unable to ship out with her). We started talking a little more about her daughter, and it turns out that she was a lawyer for the first 5 years after school. She specialized in Family Law, specifically on being a child advocate. The problem was that there was just too much bad stuff that happens to children and it was making it difficult for her. She decided to go for a change of venue (like that lawyer-speak thrown in there?), and moved to Jacksonville, FL. The first case she took was one defending a little boy who had killed a small girl and hidden her under a water bed. The cops had been unable to find the girl for 4 months or so. She was second chair, which, according to Rose, probably was best, but still couldn't take it any more so she moved back to Brooklyn, NY and got her master's degree in teaching. She is now an administrator at a high school and couldn't love it any more. From there we moved on to her husband. They will have been together 39 years next month, and you can just tell how much she loves him. She told me of the time that a friend of his bought a motorcycle, so he had no choice but to go get one. She also told me about how he hates to answer the phone. She works out weekday mornings at the local gym with a bunch of friends, and she forgot to tell them that she was going on the trip, and she got the biggest laugh out of the fact that they would be calling her husband (we will call him Bernard) all day trying to figure out where she is. Rose and Bernard are taking a trip to the Rocky Mountains later in the year as part of a tour that takes them from Colorado, up through Canada, to Alaska. She is concerned because he apparently gets bored easily since he retired, but she thinks it is going to be great fun. The best was when she said that last night when he dropped her off at the train station, he got a little teared up because he wasn't going on the trip with her. It is my hope that I am lucky enough to find a woman that is as incredible as she is, and that I still love that much 39 years into the marriage.The tales took a little somber turn as we talked about the derailment in New Orleans that caused out delays. She talked about how she really has always been looking forward to taking a trip to New Orleans for the food and the revelry, but kept putting it off and putting it off, and now that they are still dealing with the aftermath of Katrina, she is afraid she will never get there (and even if she does, it won't be the same). I told her of the two times I had been there (strategically leaving out my trip to the Hustler Club...) and we talked about the communal gardens and the two funerals that I had seen. The fact that you could get any type of food there, and it was the best food that you have ever had. There was just such a life to New Orleans, and she seemed very sad that that wouldn't be there anymore. She told me of she wanted especially to go to the cemeteries and see the crypts and tombs. That kind of led us into the conversation of how her sister died. Apparently they worked together (I didn't actually ask where), and they always carpooled. That day (August 8th, 2005) it was exceptionally hot and Rose told her sister about how she was just going to go home, take a cool shower and lay in the air conditioned bedroom for the rest of the day. Her sister thought that was a great idea and went home with that intention as well. An hour after Rose got home, her nephews and grandchildren came banging into the house screaming for her to come help, "she's passed out." When Rose got there, the EMTs were taking her sister in an ambulance to the hospital. Unfortunately, it was all a show for the 6 kids that were at the house. Her sister had died 15 minutes before the ambulance even arrived, but the EMTs went through the motions so as not to frighten the little kids. She had suffered a massive heart attack and had died before she hit the ground. At this point, Jackie (our waitress) had sent out her husband, Keenan, from the kitchen to try and figure out where they knew each other from, and Rose began to regale Keenan with stories about his family and his life. He was flabbergasted by how much Rose knew and remembered. He finally figured it out, with a little help from Rose, and they just started laughing and talking about their families and the silly things that every family does. Keenan had to get back to work after a few minutes and left us, but it seemed that our conversation had come to an end as well. Rose started to get up to go back to her seat. I thanked her for the wonderful chat, and told her that I hoped that her trip was a pleasant one. She smiled at me and wished me the same.

Here Endeth the Story