Trains

At OSU last year there were train tracks about 300 yards from my dorm. The train was loud. It came by frequently (several times a day) and blew it's horn the whole way through campus. Sometimes it would come at 6:30 AM sometimes 11:30 PM, those were rare times but did happen. At first the train was a nuisance, but then it grew on me. I liked waking up to it in the morning and falling asleep to it at night. I liked hearing it while I was watching a football game or studying outside. It was a comforting constant throughout my day.

There is also a train here. It is not so frequent. On my birthday it came through town. It was about 1:00 and we (my friends and I) had just laid down to sleep. I smiled as I laid there remembering the train from the previous year. The familiar sound lulled me to sleep and filled me with nostalgia.

The next morning at breakfast my friend asked if we had heard the train. I told her with a smile that I had. My other friend responded angrily and said that she as too. I was confused. I asked them why they were angry and they said because it had gone by three times in the night and had kept them awake. When I explained that I liked the sound and how it helped me fall asleep they didn't understand. I found it interesting that something that was such an annoyance to them was like a birthday present to me.