Just a Moment

I was looking for Grandma's old banana bread recipe. A fresh loaf of banana bread with a little vanilla ice cream would be just perfect for dessert tonight. I remember when Grandma would make that bread and the smell it had fresh out of the oven. It was a dear childhood memory. How lucky we felt to have Grandma call us and say that the bread was done. She gave us a slice while it was still warm out-of-the-oven with a glass of cold milk.

I searched the kitchen 'junk drawer' for Grandma's recipe notebook and finally found the old recipe notebook with pages just falling out from time and use. One of the pages toward the back of the notebook was not a notebook page but a photograph. In the photo, there was a tall, handsome, young man about the same vintage as Grandma. He was smiling from ear to ear. With one hand, he was pointing over his left shoulder at a person that was hiding behind him. The other hand was holding a small section of a thin rope. You could tell it was a woman. Her dress was blue with white flowers. All that was showing was the bottom portion of the dress. She had her one leg sticking out next to his. Her little lace socks and leather loafers looked so darling. I took the photo and put it in my apron pocket to show it to Grandma and ask her the story behind this photo. I just had to know who this was and who was the person hiding.

Going upstairs to find out more from Grandma, I forgot about the banana bread recipe and my imagination started to blossom. Was it romance, friend, relative or maybe a classmate? When I got to Grandma's room, she was sitting in her chair by the bed doing some crocheting. I showed her the photo and immediately with a smile, she told me this story:

Hank. that was his name. We were on the same train going across the country. I was headed to my cousin's house for the summer, and he was headed somewhere to handle some 'business'. We met on the observation car when I was enjoying some tea and watching the sunset. He was reading the paper and sipping coffee. He looked up from his paper and asked if I would like to read a section of it. I told him I was reading the sunset. And that's where it began.

That night we started our conversations and found out that we had the same sense of humor. So, we laughed and laughed. The next day we spent most of the trip talking and laughing. We learned a lot about each other, and it was so delightful getting to know this stranger that I just met. It was better than reading a book. The day before we were to arrive at the final destination, we stopped at a quaint town for the train to get supplies. However, the train had a mechanical issue, and we were going to be stuck in this town for two days while the train got repaired.

On the first day, the train company gave everyone a voucher to get lunch in town and we had plenty of time to wander and sight see. Hank and I walked around the town and spent most of the time window shopping and telling stories of childhood memories. They got to be pretty funny! Then we came upon a town park. We tried the swings, the teeter-tauter and the round-about. Wow, was I dizzy! It was time to do something with less movement. So, we headed to the coffee shop. Hank told me he sold insurance but hoped to do something with more adventure. So, we thought of lots of adventurous jobs, but he was determined to be another partner for the Lone Ranger. That was Hank's sense of humor. He told me that that was the reason he was traveling. To get to the training class for Lone Ranger Assistant school.

Then, on the second day, while waiting for repairs, they provided a big picnic lunch for all the passengers. Boy, talk about planning on the fly. They had arranged for a picnic lunch, games and 3 guys playing music. We sat on one of the blankets they scatter around for everyone to sit on. The guys playing music were locals from the town and the games were simple, traditional picnic games. One of the games was the three-legged race. I was quite a bit shorter than Hank, but we thought that we would give that game a try. To our surprise, we won! The picture you see is us, just after the big win. In the photograph, Hank still has three legs. It was so wonderfully fun!

The next day, the train was repaired, and we were back on our way. Hank and I had dinner together. After dinner, we went to the last car of the train. You could go outside and stand on a platform looking at the train tracks and the scenery pass by of where we had been. The sunset was beautiful. It reflected a gold color on the tracks as it set in the horizon. We talked about the irony of seeing things so clearly in hindsight and what things we would do differently with the choices we had made thus far.

It was almost time to go in for the night. The trip would be over just as the sun was coming up in the morning. Hank looked at me and told me he had cancer and was dying. That is why he was traveling. To go see a special doctor. I didn't believe him at first, but his look was too somber. My heart just melted.

I never saw Hank again. It was just a moment. A moment in life that I will always remember. I don't know what ever happened to Hank, but it was one of my favorite moments.

Life is full of moments. Embrace them and enjoy them for what they are. That picture is a souvenir of my precious moment with Hank. My journey ended but not the memory of our moment.