Sitting in the Amtrak Station January 6

January 6

Very messy roads driving into Reno yesterday.  It had snowed.  We seldom get snow on the valley floor at home, but this was not the typical storm.  We left early, and it is a good thing we did.  The normal one and one half hour trip into Reno took 4 hours.  The only area where the road was not solid ice was I80 from Fernley to Reno.  The Reno streets were solid ice.   Everyone was sliding through intersections.

And now we are waiting in the Amtrak train station.  The plan is to take the train over Donner Pass to visit family in the Bay Area, but the train has been delayed by two hours, because of the snow….and so here we sit.

But as with most events which happen in our lives, if we give it a chance there are some really good things which come along.

My sweetheart and I are sitting here and a lady in the seat behind us said to her husband, "What a waste to time.  We should have brought something to read."

That's one way of looking at the situation, although my wife and I have been talking right along, always a good use of time.  Also there are going to be some incredible photo opportunities going over the pass, considering there are light snow showers going on right now.

And we get to watch people.  It is an interesting and eclectic crowd thrown together in the train station with a couple hours to spare.  A combination of families, small children, babies, teenagers, business people in suits, retired people in blue jeans, and couples young and old.  It is a mixture of races and religions all here by chance.

They are talking to each other….often to total strangers.  There is something about the abnormal, or rather safe abnormal, which allows us to open up.  And snow delays could be considered a safe abnormal.  Amtrak is not going to take any chances with our safety, so we sit here safe and warm, almost like we have been given an extra two hours of unscheduled, unaccounted for, time.  So we talk to strangers, without qualms, because we have been freed from normal constraints.

The conversations usually start with the delay issue.  Then move on to the weather.  Suddenly they are discussing stories of other delays they have experienced, where home is and now the topic has evolved to family.  This is how we start to learn about each other, and become a community.

And the more we know about each other, the more we understand, the more we relate, and the more tolerant we become.

I'm sure there is a message and story here….I will have to work on it.