Paradise and peace aboard Lake Shore

There are two things I love more than anything else: The Sunday NY Times and rides aboard Amtrak. Those are and will always continue to be markers in my life that indicate a slower pace of life and a flag to slow down. I’m going to sound like I belong in train riders anonymous but it has been 10 years since my last ride on Amtrak.

The last time I chugged along the rail lines, I was in college for the first time. I was returning home after a trip to visit a friend in Central California. The train wound around majestic mountains and for a brief moment there was a peak at the Pacific Ocean. I think I wrote a long love letter to a guy I was dating at the time. I packed my backpack with various CDs and danced in the back of the train.

Now, I’m 10 years older and I’m seated beside a book about Native American Liberation Theology. I’m armed with iTunes and my MacBook. I have about six hours before I’ll arrive home tonight. But this journey is supposed to decompress my last three weekends on the road with students and friends. I’m heading home after a friend’s wedding in New York.

I spoiled myself a little today with the $6.00 purchase of a Sunday edition of the NYT. It does cost a bit to support daily journalism, but it is worth it. The Sunday edition gives the reader so many opportunities to delve into the creative and untouched. When I was working full-time, the Sunday newspaper was my only companion most Sundays until I attended the 5:30 p.m. Mass at San Carlos Cathedral. It gave me room to breathe. There was never any pressure to do anything except read, read, read.

It calms me to read the Book Review and the Travel Section. The conversation and ambiance of a train ride seems a little more peaceful to me. You chug by at a slow, slow speed. You peak into people’s backyards and wave to toddlers hoisted above their mother’s shoulders waiting to wave to the train conductor.

I really don’t think there is any other way to ride the train than with the notion of reading a book or newspaper or even composing a letter or in this case a blog.