Chasing The Train

It was a warm afternoon and I had just boarded the train to leave Goa as we were headed, on our long journey around India, to Spicer College in Pune. I pulled out my prayer journal to being writing when I notice a father holding his, maybe thirteen-year-old, daughter. There I saw a few tears being shed and he wiped them from her cheek with his hand. I quickly thought maybe she was in pain or possibly he was apologizing for something and I returned to my writing. Before long the train began to jerk it's way forward, slowly moving to a steady pace. I noticed that someone was walking beside my window looking into the train. He was looking past me and had a somewhat peaceful look on his face. He started to wave and I looked to where he had been focused and saw the thirteen-year-old girl with swollen eyes. Now her tears came without stop and as the train began to pick up speed her tears began to flow more rapidly until she broke into a sob. Her father, a small tear in the crease of his eye, followed the train with a brisk walk, which quickly turned into a jog and then a run until a wall of people swallowed him and he was out of site. The girl continued to cry and the tears continued to fall for several more minutes. This experience took me back to one of my own, a time I stood at the Spokane airport just three months previous where I too shed the same tears as this young girl and my own father chased the train as far as he could until the wall of people swallowed him as well. The quick flash back suddenly made my own eyes swell and my vision became blury. I could feel this girls pain 100%. It's the pain of losing someone dear to our hearts, but after the tears comes strength that will be with us until we are reunited. Chase the train as far as you can but you must be willing to search for the strength to fight the crowd.