Two days ago, the day before we got on the train to visit family, I got a request. Could I help move a friend’s kid and his family? The kid got a new job in town and needed to move his stuff – no piano, no appliances, no sleeper sofa and a truck big enough for the job. All magic words for an ex-furniture mover who is maybe getting too old for this kind of work.

And work it was on the hottest day of the summer so far. I left the house in the morning before eight and got home in the afternoon at six. In between we lifted couches and boxes and toys and stuff from the shed. I packed the truck and at the end of the day, it all fit in and got trucked to the day’s destination. We sweated a lot, laughed some and accomplished a good thing.  

It felt good to know that this old guy can still lift a box, get a dresser out of the house and pack truck. It felt good to use those gifts – jokingly, I call my spiritual gifts – to lend a hand and provide a lift. I was thanked profusely, over and over again.

Right now I’m getting to the end of my 18 hour train ride. It’s always interesting the people you encounter and now I’m wondering about Sister Anne and her handicapped charge, Sam. They got on the train sometime in the middle of the night and sat right behind us. I knew this from  listening to Sam’s load guttural complaints as he settled in.

I think (and I’m mostly guessing here) that Sister Anne was taking Sam, at least part-way, back to his group home somewhere in New York. They parted ways in Albany, but Anne, it seemed, was taking care of the details that would get Sam safely to his final destination… and I hope he made it OK.

Sister Anne? I don’t know much about her, really. I’m quite sure she hasn’t had to load a moving truck very often or coax a couch around a corner. I’m pretty sure her spiritual gifts don’t include moving furniture. What became quite evident to me, without even meeting her, was her spiritual gifts of patience, kindness, compassion, perseverance, love…

I didn’t hear Sam utter a word of thanks as we parted. I don’t know if Sister Anne felt appreciated for what she had done for him. I do believe that in Anne’s world, for this short train ride, Sam was one of those ‘least of these’ we hear about….and whether she realizes it or not, what she did for Sam today, she did for Jesus.

The disappointing news at first was that the train we were waiting for was an hour and a half late. This meant getting on it at nearly 2 AM after an already long and strenuous day. However, being a “ glass-half-full” guy when it comes to riding the train, I knew we’d be okay. Trains can make up time, you know.

The good part of getting on the train in the wee hours of the morning is that it doesn’t take much to fall asleep. Which I did and and slept pretty much until Cleveland and the sounds of the neighbor’s cell phone whistle woke me. The good news here is that I thought it was my phone, but it wasn’t, sparing me the scorn of my fellow trainers.

No matter when one gets on the train, it’s important to get your bearings…. Where’s my seat, where’s the bathroom and where’s the cafe car?

Our seats were assigned when we got on the train. Fine seats. Good viewing. An acre and a half of space, compared to that last airplane ride.

The bathrooms are in the normal spots. The ‘occupied’ lights are working. From where I’m sitting, it seems that on this train one of the rooms is for more long term endeavors and the other is more ‘express lane-ish.’ And please… leave them cleaner than when you found them.

…and who is that guy? He’s the one sitting 1-2-3 seats ahead of us. He kinda tall, wearing ‘cool’ sunglasses. Several people have stopped by to chat with him… No autograph requests yet… People seem to be leaving him alone for now… NBA? Baseball player? Rock star? Star of stage anrd screen? 

The sister and the sistahs…. In the seat in front of us are two sisters, little girls, traveling with gramma. Cute! The little one began to wander a bit when gramma left for the rest room. Immediately, the train community informed her big sistah. The little one was corralled. All was well… It takes a village…

In the seats behind us a sister, a nun, is traveling with a developmentally disabled man. I’m not sure what the story is there. Apparently, she is part of the young man’s village.

And then there’s the Amtrak coffee challenge… Would I be able to coax a free cup of coffee out of the cafe car attendant with my umpteen year old Amtrak mug, purchased with a ‘bottomless’ coffee guarantee? Well, this morning I am here to tell you that I’m a ‘mug-mostly-full’ kinda guy. Good news. Good coffee. Excellent price. 

Oh, and the other good news is that our train did make up time and picked us up only 26 minutes late, pretty much on time by Amtrak standards. No complaints here.

I know that by now most of you are wondering how it went, especially after living through all of the pre-event hype.  I’m talking about the first-ever “SIBS Half-Marathon… Walk.”  It all started with one sister mentioning something about wanting to walk a 1/2 marathon.  The second sister mentioned that that sounded good to her, let’s plan on June when she’s in Michigan.  The brother, me, not wanting to get shown up by his younger sisters, joined the siblings making a group of three for today’s 13.1 mile walk.

So how did it go…?  It went great!  We (the sisters) started out with enough gear to hike the Appalachian Trail.. so we had everything we needed.  The route we traveled was carefully laid out to provide interesting sites along the way to enlighten us, including a stop at the DQ.  Conversation pretty much filled the entire 5 1/4 hours we were out.  There were lots of laughs.

So today’s gift – a great time with my sisters, getting reconnected.

Yesterday, Saturday, was the first really springy day we’ve had in awhile.  Certainly the first since the cold, rainy,  snowy spring vacation just a week ago.  Sunny, warm – perfect.

It was one of those ‘firsts’ days when I wanted to mow my lawn for the first time, wash the car for the first time since the last time in winter at the quarter car wash place.  Perhaps I could wash the windows, weed the flower bed, rake the fall leftovers from the yard.  Maybe trim a tree, apply fertilizer, clean out the garage, fill up the bird feeders…. chat with the neighbor.

Which I did, chat with the neighbor, that is.  I expressed my thoughts on the day, to which he replied, “Yeh, I’m feelin’ that vibe, too.”  Now, he’s considerably younger than I am, but when it comes to the first nice Saturday of spring, we are speakin’ the same ‘vibeful’ language.

 

Spring vacation started last Thursday afternoon. It was a good start. 

Since then, I made progress on the eternal basement remodel project. (Next steps… find a friend with a pickup truck, get some drywall and hang it.) 

Then, since it’s Michigan, there was a day of snow.  

I also had opportunity to take my camera for a walk and found some interesting things. 

Check out a few of the pictures…