LIVING THE DREAM

 LIVING THE DREAM

In a lot of ways this day is a day of reckoning for Tulip. A long stationed side trip has pulled to the fore and, at this junction,  the train is about to part the station.

The new journey will start off slowly, as all engines do, while bells and whistles, bearings, brakes, and clearings are checked and double checked,  by seasoned engineers and crew, and a conductor who carefully checks and stamps everyone’s ticket to somewhere.

While sitting at the station, Preteen Tulip recalls sitting on her front porch in the hamlet of North Bend, British Columbia, looking out towards the mountain at the Trans Canada Highway wondering where all those people were heading. She then wanders over to the top of a sandy knoll to watch the arrival of the Canadian Pacific passenger train. Everyday it carries with it a load of passengers, newspapers and mail.

There in the dome car now sits Tulip, a grown up Tulip, smiling with a glass of Prosecco and a charcuterie platter of smoked fish and Dutch cheeses. Her many years of wondering where this train is headed is now over — she’s about to find out!

She quickly logs into the free WiFi before being blocked from communicating, as the train meanders its way in and out of mountain passes, exposing beautiful scenery, enduring fog, rain, snow and sunshine, and carefully navigating areas where wildlife is known to occasionally  jump onto the tracks. A lot is occupying her mind and it will be like that until the journey reaches its final destination.

For now this new mission is all a mystery with any possible outcome, but Tulip’s optimism and confidence, and support from encouraging and supportive family and friends, adds to the pleasure of a journey worth waiting for.