Trains

Eric was out of town last week - I didn't sleep much (which is normally the case when he is gone). On one of my usual middle of the night wanderings I noticed a light coming out of Scott's room. Knowing that this child would not get up in the middle of the night to study and also knowing that his room was dark on my last house check, I went to investigate. His computer screen was on illuminating the room. He was sleeping. Somewhat concerned as to why the screen was on (when I know it was off earlier) I tried to rouse Scott to see if he had for some reason gotten up to work in the middle of the night. This proved to be an exercise in uselessness as unintelligible grunts was about as far as I got. (Certain people think I should not worry when Eric is out of town since I have this strong young son around as protection - these people have not tried to wake him in the middle of the night, but that is another story). So I go back to bed conjuring up all types of reasons as to what or who may have turned this computer on. The next morning I again asked Scott about the computer. This time he informed me that sometimes the screen comes on when the train goes by as depending on the type of train, it causes the house to shake. This would have been really nice to know in the middle of the night so I didn't lay there and think about ghosts and all other kinds of things my mind is prone to worry about in the middle of the night when Eric is gone, but at least I had an answer.

When we bought this house I figured that having a train track so close was a negative point. I wondered if that was one of the reasons it hadn't sold quickly and if it would make it difficult for us to sell if we had to. But there were positives that outweighed the negatives and we bought it train track and all. Now I love the train. There is something strangely comforting hearing it come throughout the day and, yes, even in the middle of the night. One of Matthew's favorite things to do is to walk down to the track and watch a train go by or just walk down the track (he likes to collect railroad spikes).

Over the mountains,
Over the plains,
Over the rivers,
Here come the trains.
(from Trains by James S. Tippett)