Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

On Tuesday of our trip to Vermont, it was time to head home.

I got up early to see my brother off to work, and much to my surprise, The Gryphon got up, too. We had some nice, quiet conversation over coffee and got to give my brother a hug as he headed off to work.

He's always been one of my best friends, and it's hard to leave, but it was good to spend some quality time with him and his family.

His wife drove us to the train station in plenty of time to make our train. It was a little damp and cool outside, so we waited inside until just a couple minutes before it was time to go. My nephew was fascinated with the photos of trains on the walls.

I was happy that he didn't seem to realize we were leaving. The night before, when we'd gone out to get ice cream, he'd run after us, crying. We assured him we were coming back.

I'm happy that, even though we can't see him that often, my nephew is bonding with us. He's a very sweet little boy with a great sense of humor, and it's fun to watch him grow. I genuinely enjoyed interacting with him and playing with him.

I'll also miss my brother's wife, who is always fun to talk to. She's very practical, with a wacky sense of humor that meshes well with my brother. I told her to e-mail me whenever she gets a chance.

When the train came, we waved bye to them and got on. We could see them out the window for a little while as we pulled away.

This is a good time to mention one of the more endearing things my nephew has been doing lately. He can say a few words, so he uses them frequently, pleased that he can communicate. One of them is "See?" He'll point out the window as we're driving, saying, "See?"

Another thing he does is say "Hi" and "Bye". But the funny thing is that when he says it, he sounds like he has a slight Southern accent. By the end of our stay, all of us adults were saying, "Hi" and "Bye" to each other the same way.

I had a number of interesting dreams during our visit, too. In one of them, I was a member of some sort of geek club on campus, of which my brother was already a member. He tried to teach me the secret handshake, which was to pretend you were slapping five but then to miss. Then he presented me with a club pin, which had a rainbow background with a circle on it.

"Does this mean I'm coming out of the closet as a geek?" I joked. Like I need to do that!

Another dream I had must be influenced by the political talk starting on cable TV. I worked for the Bush White House, and I was talking to Hillary Clinton at a party. Over cocktails, I was complaining to her about how politicos were always trying to get me to give them inside information they could use in their campaigns. She asked for my phone number!

I also had a dream that I had monkey legs. Don't ask me what that's about. No idea. It might have been because the previous day, my brother and I had been playing with my nephew, pretending to be various animals, including frogs and monkeys.

The train grew quiet in New Haven as they switched conductors. A young woman two seats behind us said into the silence, on her cell phone, "I'm officially seeing a chickipoo. And we're talking seriously about talking seriously."

The Gryphon said, sotto voce, "And I'm going to be going."

The bathroom on this car was not good about locking, as I discovered an embarrassing way. Not seeing the light indicating it was locked, I tugged it open, surprising a woman with her pants down! Fortunately, I was the only one who saw, and I closed it right away, saying, "Sorry!"

For the rest of the trip, I used the handicapped restroom, which had a working lock.

While we were traveling, it was hard to tell how warm it was outside, since the temperature in the train was constant. But when we emerged at 30th Street Station, I could tell it was warm enough to remove some layers.

For the next several days, though, cooler temperatures hung to Philadelphia, as if we'd brought them back from Vermont.

Luke, however, didn't mind. He was just happy to see us again. He immediately climbed on top of my suitcase, to make sure I wouldn't be leaving any time soon.

More from our trip to Vermont:

August 30, 2006 - Along the Tracks

August 31, 2006 - By in a Blur

September 1, 2006 - Food and Family

September 5, 2006 - Soggy Shopping

September 6, 2006 - Rock of Ages

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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