missed train
When you miss a train by 2 minutes — not for any reason — just reading in your car instead of by the tracks — even with the phone timer on alert with (what you thought was) 20 minutes to spare because of a time zone change, 2 things happen.
You wrestle your regret to the ground. Although, it keeps reappearing with an accusatory look at unexpected times throughout the rest of the day.
You begin to search for reasons why it was important for you NOT to board that particular train.
Every chance interaction gains significance.
Backing up, planning a day trip across state lines by car and train into a large walkable city, at my age, there are 2 major concerns:
Bathroom breaks
Phone charge prep (apparently my “battery’s health is significantly degraded”)
Last Saturday I took a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago to visit the Korean National Treasures Exhibit. I carefully planned a departure from Michigan to an Indiana stop on the South Shore Line to Chicago. I verified the time zone shift from Eastern to Central. I downloaded the train app and purchased train and museum tickets in advance. I packed a cooler with a variety of items to avoid unnecessary expenses and support the 2 hour car ride, the 1 ½ hour train ride and the 14 minutes of city walking to and from the station. I curated the items in the restricted bag size specified on the museum website. I was ready.
And yet, at 10:25 when I exited my car at the train station, after hanging the sunshades over the windshield, rolling up the windows and locking the doors, I was informed at the platform that I had just missed the 10:24. The next train was leaving at 12:58. :silent scream:
How had I miscalculated so badly?!!! Had I clocked the departure as 11:48 (which was, in fact, the arrival time)?
Swiftly, I began scrolling through the drop down menus of the next stops on the South Shore Line app, wondering if I could outdrive the train and catch it at a different location. In this frantic state, a young person who had been dropped off and was in the same predicament asked if I had a phone charger. I didn’t have time to loan him one as I frantically switched between the train and the map apps, comparing departure and drive times.
As I returned to my car, I realized my plan was not feasible. I began weighing the possibility of taking the next train. With 2.5 hours to spare, I decided to walk to the nearest McDonald’s (the train station did not have a restroom). That’s when I realized, one of the reasons I had missed my train!
I found the marooned teenager low on battery and loaned him a portable charger. While determining if my phone charger was the right fit, I asked him if he had decided to wait for the next train as well. He said, “yes.”
I left the charger with him in the train station shelter while I walked to the nearest bathroom. May as well get some steps in after the morning drive. The excursion took 30 minutes round trip which included increasing concern for a person spending 10+ minutes in the only working stall.
When I returned, the boy had disappeared.
Entering the shelter, I found a woman a few years my senior. I asked if anybody else had been in there with her. At this point, she returned the charger. “He told me to give this to you. He had to leave.”
“Thank you! You’re amazing!” I exclaimed.
“I knew you would want this back,” she replied with a tinge of incredulity that I had left a phone charger with a stranger.
A wedding party in a park on the walk to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Something I would have missed had I taken the earlier train.
This specific skateboarder doing this jump.
Another picture that wouldn’t exist had I been on time.
