Whistling the blues away...

Well, if they freed me from this prison,
If that railroad train was mine,
I bet I'd move out over a little,
Farther down the line,
Far from Folsom Prison,
That's where I want to stay,
And I'd let that lonesome whistle,
Blow my Blues away. 
     ~Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash

The town I live in has one industry-- there is a big train yard here. There are trains that come in 24 hours a day. Several main roads have train crossings and it is not unusual to be stopped at one of them for up to 10 minutes while a train passes by. A couple years ago there was a derailment with a toxic chemical spill that resulted in an entire subdivision located close to the tracks being evacuated. Most of the time, the trains here are a nuisance.

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep I heard a train whistle in the distance. We live far enough away that we can't always hear the trains. But last night, due to cloud cover or humidity in the air (or whatever the scientific explanation for sound traveling differently is...) the sound of the train came floating into the dark bedroom.

Instantly I was transported back to my childhood, when I would spend the night at my grandparents' home in Lancaster, New York. I remember vividly the bedroom I slept in there-- the size and feel of the bed, the sound of the TV and my grandparents' muffled voices downstairs, the creak of the stairs when they came up to bed themselves. And the sound of the trains in the distance. Back in my childhood trains were frequent there, and a railroad crossing was less than a mile away. The trains ran all night and on those nights I couldn't sleep their sounds were my companion. I grew up hearing them, and so I associate the sound with the warm fuzzy feeling of being a much-loved grandchild in the bosom of my grandparents' loving home.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. The memories that flooded my almost-dreams were still with me this morning. I have had my grandparents on my mind all day. How lucky I was to experience such unconditional love from them!

My hope is that each of my own grandchildren will grow up with the same warm, fuzzy memories of staying here with us. I hope they know how much they are loved!