Being a prairie girl, I found the idea of trains terribly romantic. I used to watch them with my cousins on the sound barrier behind our grandparent’s place. Once my cousin Luke jumped on one and held on for a few feet. Only now do I realize he could have had a terrible accident, but I remember it so clearly. It was a crazy boy thing to do.

They make a great noise. I used to like listening to them in the distance in the house I was a small child in. It was so haunting, a sound that seemed to belong only to the night.

I was 21 when I first rode a train, in Germany going overnight to Paris. The reality of riding a train kicked in, the damn thing kept stopping the whole time, jarring me out of my sleep. Plus it was freezing in the car, we didn’t find the heater until the next morning. Ugh!

I don’t know why I wanted to talk about trains. They just fascinate me. Once an ex was going to go train hopping for a vacation, I was so shocked. She shocked me a lot.