The Joy of Not Going

I stole that title from an essay I once read.  I don't know who wrote it.  I read it a long time ago, given to me by grandpa Charlie Gausmann.  Cleverly written, it extols the values of staying home when there is shopping or parties to attend, where there are meals out but better home cooking.  To make the story short here, it shows how at a young age, the excitement of going is replaced at your maturity with enjoying the reality of your home life.

I wish I had a complete copy of this smart essay.  I like to read, and it was a fun  read.

There are many events I prefer not to attend, and I have reasons I would rather stay at home doing what I would rather do.  I do not feel I have "missed something or someone" by not going.  I believe those who have high unmet expectations in life, and feel destiny will bring them a "mate"or "job" by their networking, may insist on always going to every event they can.  Their motor is constantly running, they move on and outwards  whenever they can, but I wonder when they get to the point where I am now, content NOT to be going.

I did attend the seniors' book club last month for the first time.  The reason? To converse with others and be inspired to read a book or two I would not normally pick to read.  I went to this meeting, and we discussed  "Plainsong" (Haruf), which I decided there and then I might like to read.  The following month they would discuss , "The Christmas Train".  I agreed to go another time, even though it seemed a bit like school, with a churchy prologue.  I more expected a gaggle of ladies sitting around a coffee pot gossiping about the characters and events  like old friends, than a class at school.

I went to my KOBO Wi-Fi reader, read through the choices, and ordered, "Killing Lincoln".  Have to get a history read to reward me for reading fluff..  Then found "Plainsong" and "The Christmas Train".  Order went through, and when I tried to down load the three items, I was only successful with the help of customer service in downloading "Killing Lincoln" to my reader.  For some reason, "The Christmas Tree" ended up on my laptop, and "Plainsong" disappeared.  So here I sit, two weeks later, having read those two items, and still searching for "plainsong"...makes a good title of a song or book.   I will contact customer service again, now that I have time to read it.

I recommend "Killing Lincoln", co-authored by Bill O'Reilly.  In several parts it clearly details the countdown to Lincoln's Assassination and describes the end of the Civil War.  History comes alive in your mind's eye with such vivid details.

But I was supposed to read "The Christmas Train".  I thought constantly of Harold and his love of trains, and the joy of being on a train.  I had been on several trains in my life and I still want to get on a train and go off on an adventure.  I always enjoyed the ride.  The experience was memorable, like the takeoff of a jet, or the feel of wind in your sails and hair when you sail a boat, that can only come from being  THERE.  The gentle rhythms of the wheels after the jerks and struggles of the cars jolting against each other to set themselves free of the bumpy station track, to get to the smooth roll of the straight strips of country track.  The side wards sway of the cars rocking you as you sit or try to walk to the dining cars for meals, mesmerizing you as you watch a fly unaffected by all this motion as it flies around in the car bothering some sleeping man.

I have been on a train under the Channel, from Paris to London.  It was dark, of course, we could not see anything, and it went overnight, but it was exciting.
I will never forget a train trip with Oma from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Los Angeles.  We traveled in seats that reclined into beds, and during the day we moved to elevated dome cars, so we could view the desert.  We ate in elegant dining cars.  I think the trip took  a day and a night.
Model trains have reminded me of Christmas since I can recall coming to America when I was four years old.  Michael had a marvelous train that did everything, puff smoke, whistle, dump coal,  pull and dump logs, load and unload milk containers, and go on tracks round the tree.  It was able to make the railway crossing gates flash, go down, and the cars stopped at the gates.  Michael had a very short temper.  He would not let anyone touch the trains, because they easily came off the track.  We could watch him move the controls, make the train work, but not touch anything, ever.  When he got a little older, he would let us play a little with him, but it always ended with something not working, us getting blamed for the breakdown, and we were "NEVER to touch it again!!!!"

I love reading history books, since I feel like I am really transported to another time, sort of in a time warp, onto another planet, as if I truly live in a "Space Trek" reality.

As I read "The Christmas Train" I could sort of predict the ending, and thought to myself, "I doubt a Senior Citizens' book club would have read a Christmas story which ended with gore and blood this time of year.  Bet we have a happy ending!"  I would have enjoyed a "Murder on the Orient Express", but it was not to be.  However, there were several twists and turns I had not expected.  Still this is a  soft and fuzzy book for Christmastime for us to enjoy, with a lot of railroading facts thrown in.  I would have added photographs, lots of them.  What book do you know that talks of the railroad, that does not have lots of pictures? My point exactly.

So I really hope those individuals that pick up and read, "The Christmas Train" are inspired to get up and go on a train trip.  I think they will enjoy the journey and the company along the way.  Take that book along to read, or take "Killing Lincoln".  That is well worth taking along.