Happy Thoughts

Crossing the Railroad Tracks onto East Main Street         

Farmersburg, Indiana    April 2010



1 Thessalonians 3:6
"But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you."

As a child, I looked forward to trips from my home in Cincinnati to visit my dad’s parents in Farmersburg, Indiana.

My grandparents lived in a small, white, clapboard house next to the church, which was situated on a corner lot on Main Street.

My Aunt Thelma, Uncle Charles, and their children, who lived in Terre Haute, would visit us. Sometimes the rest of my aunts, uncles and cousins from around the country would join us for reunions.

The house is long burned down now, and only a faint outline of a driveway indicates a house once stood there, but my memories of that time period are strong.

In the churchyard next to our grandparents’ house, my brother, sister, cousins, and I played hide and seek, tag, and any other games we invented.

A favorite game was racing to the train when it headed south through town from Terre Haute toward Sullivan County.

As soon as the train whistle bellowed, we'd drop whatever we were doing, run two blocks from the house to the railroad tracks as fast as we could trying to be the first one to wave to the engineer.

We'd holler at each other all the way:  No fair! You're cutting me off. Hey! You tried to trip me--watch out, I was ahead of you.  Ha, ha!  I'm winning! 

Eventually we’d all arrive at the tracks to wave at the engineer and wait out the cars to wave at the man in the caboose.

I have happy memories of waving to the mysterious men who rode the trains. Although they were fleeting strangers, they looked as happy to see us children as we were to see them.
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Dear Lord, thank you for all the people in our lives who bring us pleasant memories.