Wind, trains and having Chuck home

This week began Chuck's two weeks off. We started the week with a list of things we need to do while he is off, things that I am not good at.

One thing I am discovering is that there is cold and then there is COLD with wind.  I have an aversion to wind no matter the climate. I trace it back to our time in the Philippines when we endured two hurricanes. One hit us head on with the eye coming directly over us, the other skirted us but was still very powerful. The wind during those two storms was relentless, loud and pounding. It was most terrifying at night and I still am frightened when the wind blows loud and long. On days like today when it is sunny and calm the temperature of 20-25degrees is quite manageable to me. I enjoy colder temperatures anyway, but this is very comfortable and I find myself getting too warm!

Several years ago I was listening to a man speak about relieving stress by going in your mind to a place that is the most peaceful and comforting to you. It can be real or imagined and as I thought about where this place could be I came to realize where this is for me.

My grandparents lived for many years in a small Texas town just north of Ft. Worth called Saginaw. It was situated adjacent to several large grain elevators and the railroad ran north out of Ft. Worth, passed through Saginaw and traveled to parts unknown. Their house was near this railway and my stress free memories are of summer nights, sleeping on the couch, the sound of my Papaw snoring and the midnight call of the train as is traveled through Saginaw. These sounds created feelings and sensations of peace and comfort, that can wash over me whenever I hear the sound of a train. The call of the horn as it passes by and lingering song as it gets father away.

Tioga has my train...

Chuck says that if I am restless in the night as soon as the train sounds its "sirens call" I sigh and settle into a calm sleep.  He said it never fails to soothe me.  I find myself smiling at the train when I hear it speaking to me. Perhaps that is why I am settling into Tioga, North Dakota so happily even with the cold temperatures and annoying travails we have been through.

But Chuck is off now and we are having a wonderful time.

-N