This train ride that I take every couple of weeks from San Diego to LA and back gives me ample time to think about my life. I look around me, the people I sit with me all talk around me as I sit here alone in silence with my music carrying me away to a far away place. There is an occasionally “Hello” or “Excuse me”. There really isn’t anything more to it. You sit here wondering how so many people can sit together in an enclosed space for about 3 hours and not even bother to spark up a conversation with one another. I guess society makes us want to be solitary, but our nature yearns for that physical contact. It yearns for that small conversation that will make this 3 hour train ride seem like a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway.
Now you may start to think how come I don’t spark a conversation with another person? Well, I do when there’s someone sitting next to me. There usually is, unfortunately today there isn’t a person sitting next to me so I can start a conversation with. I may talk to that cute girl sitting by herself but who knows she might have a boyfriend in the bathroom or down in the train market getting them some snacks. Next to me is a young couple that is giggling like they just first met. Laughing at the memories on their phones. The pictures that they took from a party last night maybe. Sharing stories together and watching comedic YouTube videos. Sitting in front of me is an old couple. Silent in wisdom and knowledge. They years they have spent together have given them a silent love. They know each other inside and out as if they started to merge into one whole person. The slightest touch from the other is a simple assurance that “I love you and we will die together you and me”.
So my train ride today will hopefully be a silent one. One where I can see the sunset and ocean to my left and the mountains to my right. One where I can spend in silent chaos. Where the sent of the cute girl’s perfume lingers in the air around me. One where the young couple’s laughter may resurrect a finer time in my life. One where the old couple’s silent love and commitment is a life lesson right in front of me. This train ride will teach me how much I miss loving someone, how much I miss what I was before, and how much I miss the sweet embrace of someone.
Workaholic Mentality
