Look Poppy

This past Friday night, after visiting with his grandmother and great grand parents, Aden returned to Poppy's house for the last night before the Big Train trip. Of course he was ready to play with his trains and Poppy was ready for bed. We have, over the past few weeks, constructed a rather elaborate railroad track system that interlocks via several switches and occupies approximately 78.5% of my living room floor space and also runs into my bedroom and then back out again. Even big kids like me enjoy getting a half dozen or more trains running around this system and throwing switches to preclude unnecessary head-on collisions. I convinced him after a short while that we needed to get ready for bed and that I would read his two new books to him before we went to sleep. After we finished reading them twice apiece, I tried to explain that when we woke up we would get in Poppy's car and drive up to the train and go see Mommy. I'd say, "We're going to see Mommy tomorrow" and he'd reply, "No" and laugh. He likes to disagree with me sometimes and just tell me no and laugh…he thinks that is funny. Finally, I put "Clifford, The Big Red Dog" in the VHS player and we laid down to sleep. About thirty minutes later, I woke up and he was asleep, so I shut off the movie and drifted off to never land.

I never set an alarm because I wake up about every hour anyway, so I climbed out of bed Saturday morning at 5 am and got ready to go. I had the DVD installed in the car and a movie playing when I loaded up young Aden for the big adventure. I was pretty sure that he would go right back to sleep after I dressed him and put him in the car, but he stayed awake for over two hours before he finally succumbed to the sandman. Just short of Chicago, I pulled over to a McDonalds and we got some pancakes, sausage and hash browns. Aden did real well at breakfast and only erred once when he knocked the syrup off the table onto my pants. After breakfast, Aden was really getting excited and wanted to know where the Big Train was. It took a little bit of explaining but I convinced him that we were not quite there yet. The remainder of the trip to Chicago was filled with a little boy's excitement of seeing so many cars, trucks and so many big buildings.

We parked the car in a lot at O'Hare Airport in a position very close to the elevator down to the subway, what Chicago calls the "Metra". This was the little train that I told Aden we would ride to the big train. There was a lot more walking involved from the parking lot to the actual Metra car that we would be riding than I had anticipated. Keep in mind when I say a lot more, I'm looking at it from the perspective of a three year old with very short legs. Walking with Aden is a lot different than walking alone. He really would need to jog at a good pace to keep up with my normal mosey along stride, so I had to keep this in mind for the whole weekend. If any of our walks became too long, the little feller would say, "Pick me up Poppy". Unfortunately, when we reached Chicago, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. The temperature, which was a balmy 70 something when I played golf Wednesday afternoon had dropped to 34 on Saturday morning and the wind was whipping through Chicago around 20 -- 30 mph. I can guarantee you that no one hates cold weather more than I do and I tried to schedule this trip to keep our outdoor time to a minimum.

Aden was really big eyed when we got on the Metra. The look on his face itself was worth the trip. So we traveled to the first stop, of what was about 15 stops on our way to Union Station, and some Metra people boarded our car and told us that we'd all have to get off because they were performing track maintenance between wherever we were right then and somewhere down the line. No problem, they stated, we have busses to take you around the maintenance area. What they didn't say was, you have to walk, somewhere near a country mile in cold blustery conditions carrying a 3 year old, a back pack and dragging a suitcase on rollers across broken concrete sidewalks, just to get to the busses. Miraculously, we made it without Poppy having a heart attack and continued on our adventure on the little train. Aden was smiling and having the time of his life just riding on the little train and I was having a great time just watching him. About a hundred people came and went while we traveled into town and at least two thirds of them asked, "How old is he?" After awhile he just held up three fingers and never even turned around. Amazingly, not a one of these people asked how old I was, however, by the way I looked, I'm sure they didn't want to embarrass me.

During the entire trip, I only saw Aden really scared of one thing. When we got to the Clinton stop on the Metra (I had a good Hillary joke for this exit, but I was sure Aden wouldn't get it, so I kept it to myself), we had to walk about a block and a half to Union Station. Downtown Chicago, with all of its huge buildings, like any other city, funnels the gusty winds down the streets in a way that tends to intensify the strength in a dramatic fashion. I held on tight to Aden, as we walked along, just to keep him from blowing away (at about 240 pounds, I make a pretty good anchor in most conditions, excluding Category 4 or 5 hurricanes). On the leeward side of Union Station, we passed two pigeons on the sidewalk, which took a liking to Master Aden and began following him. I soon heard the familiar, "Poppy, pick me up." When you are a little tyke, the size differential between you and the birds is reduced significantly and I could tell that he wanted no part of those vultures.

I'm not sure what I can say about Chicago's Union Station that would be more appropriate than to say it is huge. Aden ran all over that place, while Old Poppy elected to sit and watch. Getting our tickets from a self service kiosk with our confirmation number was a breeze and the trip to the waiting room was fairly short. We settled in for a wait of about an hour prior to boarding in an extremely crowded waiting room, much similar to one at an airport departure gate. The portable DVD player came in handy here because there just wasn't any room to run anymore. When they announced that our train was ready for boarding, Aden and Poppy jumped up and were near the front of the line for old people needing assistance and passengers with young children. As I presented our tickets, the lady said that we were not to board here, that we needed to walk back down that hall to the first door on the right, marked Metropolitan Lounge. I sure wish someone would have told me that an hour earlier. This lounge was very nice, with big easy chairs and sofas, and since we had purchased a sleeper, we were amongst the privileged upper class passengers afforded this luxury. Within a few minutes we got the boarding call again and we lined up again. Now Aden was really getting excited about seeing the Big Train and kept asking Poppy, "Where's the Big Train?" Finally a lady come over and asked us all to follow her, so we took off walking at a rather brisk pace, so I swooped up Aden, drug the suitcase along and dutifully kept up with the handsome young lass who was striding out at a pace of maybe 15-20 mph. After awhile, Linda (I saw it on her name tag) stopped, turned and said let's hold up here for everyone to catch up. I turned around and saw a couple of septuagenarians closing in on us about a mile down the hall. I should have walked with them. Finally we all regrouped and we entered the door marked Track Number 12 and Aden saw it for the first time, The Big Train. He screamed real loud right in my ear, "Look Poppy, the Big Train!" Everyone around laughed and Aden smiled like nothing I have ever seen before.

We proceeded on down the side of the track with our tickets in hand, as we were told to continue on for six more cars to Car 532 Room 4. We finally made it all the way and entered the Big Train. The Big Train has very narrow hallways and a narrow and steep stairwell that took us to our room on the second level of the train. I'm still not sure how I managed to get up that spiral staircase carrying Aden, the backpack and the suitcase, but when I got to the top a porter asked, "Can I help you with that bag?" Hmmm, I thought to myself…why yes, let me take it back down these steps and you can carry it back up. Maybe I'm being too hard on the guy and a little sarcastic here, but he took my bag, walked about 3 steps, set it in our room and then stood there with his hand held out like I owed him something. Since Aden and I were having such a great time I gave him a couple of bucks and said "Thanks a bunch."

Once inside of our room, actually called a roomette, because it is way too small to be considered a room, Aden plopped down on his chair and pressed his nose against the window. We were still in the station, but there was another train on Track Number 11 and he just had to see all of it. This began a constant outpouring of "Look, look Poppy" and we looked and looked and looked. He pointed out cars and trucks, dump trucks, cement trucks and just big trucks. "Look Poppy a backhoe", "Look Poppy a mmbuless", he's still working on saying ambulance, but he sure knows one when he sees it. For miles and miles, we saw so many things that he wanted to make sure that I saw too. Several times he got up, came over and sat on my lap so we could see things together. On one of these occasions, an elderly gentleman came by and asked if I had a camera because he was sure that I would want a picture of us sitting there together. I sure hope it came out good; unfortunately most pictures with me in them have little chance for success. As the sun set and as the landscape turned dark, Aden grew tired and fell to sleep on my lap. I've always enjoyed holding him, as a matter of fact; I've always enjoyed holding all of my kids, as I suspect most all parents do. It is strange to me how something as simple as holding a sleeping child can make a person feel so good.

It was dark when we crossed the Mississippi River and I made sure that I began waking Aden up around Galesburg in order for him to be ready to properly appreciate the view of the river. There are times that I have noticed that he's a little like his Poppy and wakes up a little grumpy and just needs time to gather his thoughts. We crossed the river at a snail's pace and it was a wonderful sight to see, even during the nighttime it was illuminated sufficiently to see the enormous stature of such a great river. We were both in awe as we crept along this magnificent bridge and saw the huge barges moving slowly down the river. I even broke out into song with a little "Old Man River" for a few minutes, but I quit abruptly when I remembered that our door was open and people were actually hearing me. Aden's never been overly critical of my singing in the past, but he may not have fully developed his appreciation for music yet.

After we crossed the river, we settled into our seats and worked four jigsaw puzzles, which I had brought along for the trip; Spiderman, Thomas the Train, Winnie the Pooh and Lightning McQueen. After the puzzles we kicked back and began watching our favorite Thomas the Train DVDs. Frequently, as trains do when they are traveling across country, the engineer sounded the horn as he approached road crossings. We were only two cars removed from the engine so we really got the full effect of this common alarm procedure. Every time Aden heard the horn, he'd look up at me and say "Train". I attempted several times to explain that the horn which he heard was actually our train's horn, but I'm sure my explanations were sorely inadequate and he kept thinking there were other trains approaching.

I asked our hostess, Janelle, to put our beds down so we could settle in for the night. Once the beds are down in a sleeper, you then have a floor space of about 24 by 36 inches left in which to stand, so you need to be ready to get in bed. As Aden slept on the lower berth, I climbed, somewhat awkwardly into the upper berth, bumping my head and then my elbow and then my head again, but finally unraveling into a horizontal position to try to get some sleep. Within 5 minutes of lying down, the conductor announced in a very loud voice that we were coming into another town and would be stopping for 10 minutes. The speaker was located about 2 feet directly above my head so I couldn't miss a single word of his breath taking announcements. It really doesn't pay to go to bed before 10 pm, because they don't suspend announcements until after that time, but they don't tell you that until about 9:45 pm. After we traveled for a few miles, I began to worry that the rocking of the cars was a little more pronounced than I had anticipated and I worried about Aden rolling out of bed, so I climbed back down, even more awkwardly than I climbed up, actually it was more of a fall that was interrupted by our door, the lower berth and a metal trash can that jutted out about 6 inches from the lower berth and I'm lucky to say that I didn't break anything. I crawled onto the side of the bed with Aden and spent the remainder of the evening dozing off and waking up and just looking out the window. At some point, he climbed up on my chest and I held him for the rest of the trip. I failed to mention that I had a terrible head cold and I must have blown my nose a hundred times during the night. For the life of me, I cannot understand how he slept through all of my coughing, sneezing and nose blowing, but he was quite the trooper and slept through it all.

At one point, I realized that I needed to relieve myself and asked Janelle to watch Aden while I went to the bathroom across the hall. This bathroom is so small that you have to step in to the far wall in order to shut the door and when you sit on the toilet your knees hit the opposite wall and the toilet paper is mounted directly in front of your face. Sweet.

I asked Janelle to give us a wake-up call for 5:30 am since breakfast was at 6 and our arrival was scheduled for 7:15. I woke him up, got us cleaned up and dressed, kind of while we were lying down and then we walked down to the dining car. One of the things that I didn't really elaborate on was the narrow hallways on the train. Because of the rocking of the train, I couldn't trust that Aden could walk down the halls without getting knocked off of his feet and getting hurt, so whenever we went anywhere I carried him. The hallways are extremely narrow and if you met someone they either had to backup or step into someone's room to allow you to pass. Consequently, as I carried Aden down the halls to the dining car or to the observation car, we had to walk sideways to keep from bumping his arms and legs on the walls. Of course, whenever Aden and I met anyone, everyone wanted to stop and ask old he was and Aden would just hold up 3 fingers, his last three fingers with his first finger touching his thumb in a signal that kind of looks like OK. In the dining car, there are placements at the tables for 4 people and you are served when 4 people are seated at the table. Aden and I were joined by the two young English ladies and we listened to stories of their trip across the US and ate our French toast, omelet and sausage. They were nice ladies and seemed to enjoy talking. I much prefer to sit with people like this while I am eating, so I can concentrate on the task at hand and not be interrupted to answer questions. All in all it was a rather nice breakfast and Aden only wiped just a minor bit of syrup on my shirt, so I finally had a matching outfit. When it comes to putting the butter and syrup on pancakes or French toast, he always lets me know that "Me want to do it."

After breakfast came the big moment, we departed the train and went into the station to see Mom. That little boy really missed his Mom and it was good to see them back together. Plus, Old Poppy got a nice hug from his daughter and she thanked me for making this trip with him. That was all the payment that I needed. I would have loved to have been able to stay in Denver and visit, but I had to get back, so it was time to say good-bye. I hate saying good-bye, but it was time, so I did it and headed outside to find a cab.

Sixty-five dollars later, I was at the Denver Airport and soon I was airborne, heading to Chicago O'Hare. It was a decent flight as I got to chat with a very nice lady from Santa Barbara. The discussion made the flight seem quicker and it took my mind off of that little boy for awhile. The drive back to Bloomfield was for the most part uneventful and I was home before 9. As I walked into the house, there it was lying right in front of me; that railroad track stretched across my living room floor. And now I had no one to play with.

I'm really not sure, as he grows up, what Aden will remember of his trip with Poppy on the Big Train. But, I will remember it forever; it is one of my favorite memories.

Tonight I have been invited to go out for supper with Matthew and to watch Monday Night Football and have a few beers. I look forward to it. It was around 29 years ago when Matt and I made another of my favorite memories as the two of us traveled by car from El Paso, Texas to Jasonville. He was the Stuckey's hot dog eating King on that road trip, and like Aden, he pointed out a lot of things to his Dad, and now all of these years later, I can still see that smile on his face.

Scoot over Lou; I'm pretty sure that I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth.