I'm Leaving On A Midnight Train To Georgia

Above: Me waking up on the train this morning.

Last night I boarded a midnight train to Georgia. Well, actually, I got on the train a little before 10 pm in Raleigh, NC. Around 6:30 this morning we stopped in Savannah, GA. I got off at the next stop, in Jacksonville, FL, to visit my sister and her husband for the week.

The train ride made me think of the Indigo Girls song, "Midnight Train To Georgia," (a cover of the hit single by Gladys Knights & the Pips):

He's leaving on that midnight train to Georgia
Oh yeah
Said he's going back to find
A simpler place and time
Yes he is

He kept dreaming
That one day he'd be a star
A superstar but he didn't get far
But he sure found out the hard way
That dreams don't always come true
Oh no
So he sold all his hopes
And he even sold his own car
And bought a one way ticket back
To the life that he once knew
Oh yes he did
He said he would

I love the harmonies on that song, and the nostalgia-- oh, nostalgia is one emotion that always gets me.

I was a bit nervous about the train ride. What kind of a crowd would be on an overnight, cheap train?

It turned out my seatmate was just fantastic. She was 72, and so emotionally aware, telling me about her wonderful 51 years of marriage to a man 8 years her elder and her relationship with her distant father. She said her husband is the youngest 80 year old she has ever known and still does crazy, wild things in the college classes he teaches. It was clear how much she loved him, and his funny sense of humor. She told me about how when they had young kids their whole house burned down, leaving them just the shirts on their backs. Because they earned less that year than they lost, they received a tax refund. She wanted to buy curtains and things they needed for the new place. He said no, that this was the opportunity of a lifetime and they should use the money to take the whole family on a cruise in the Bahamas. She said that is how his mind works. I think it sounds brilliant, personally.

She also told me about the pair of barred owls that roosted in the large oak trees in her yard, and how much she enjoyed watching them watching her. She said she felt blessed by their presence and I replied, "Having that kind of closeness to a wild animal is magical." She commented that magical was a good word to describe it.

I really enjoy hearing people's life stories, it is like getting a condensed version of a non-fiction book, and from someone who is introspective and has a good understanding of herself (or himself), I feel like I can learn and connect.

The train ride also made me reminisce about the movie Fried Green Tomatoes because there is a midnight train scene set in Alabama. I don't think I would ever be brave enough to jump off a moving train though, they move way too fast! My seatmate though, she had spunk, I think she might have been a real life Idgie Threadgoode.