Sunday Morning, June 9, by Liz Hottel Barrett
This morning, we both left the house at 7:30 am. Bryan took our grandson Tucker to BWI airport for a flight to Grinnell College in Iowa. Tucker is 17, a junior in high school, and works in a research lab at Hopkins. I took Tucker’s friend Ryan to Penn Station in Baltimore for a train to Charlottesville where his parents would be meeting him. Ryan lives in Denver, and both boys had been with us since Thursday while their parents were at their 25th UVA reunion. Ryan had never been on a train, so I promised his parents I’d see him safely settled. After dropping off our charges, Bryan and I planned to meet back at church at 10:00.
There was no traffic this morning and we had left plenty of time, so I took Ryan on a last loop of Annapolis — he was fascinated by the colonial “oldness” of the city and excited to see midshipmen in and about town. Then on to Baltimore with no cars on the road and still plenty of time to have a quick tour of Baltimore’s fun-filled Inner Harbor on the way. By the time we reached Penn Station, we still had an hour to wait for the train and found parking across the street from the front door; so we went to the restrooms, checked in with the officials, and clarified how much time we had and would have to board the train. In fact, we asked as many other things as we could think of to ask to make sure there would be no problems on Ryan’s first train trip.
We had a nice leisurely breakfast at a station cafe. I love the simplicity of that station. No track levels or any decisions to make — just 6 gates all together clearly displayed. Our train was slightly delayed, and during breakfast the delay increased a bit, but our sandwiches were good and I had my very first bottled Starbucks Frappucino. What a disappointment after waiting all those years! Ryan still had time for the restroom. Me, too.
We were relieved to see our “Cardinal 51” up on the boarding screen because after all the delay, I didn’t want Bryan to worry even though he is the one who purposefully decided not to carry his cell phone with him. I got Ryan all settled on the train, showed him where the train bathrooms were, and started to leave. Oops. The already-moving train was heading for DC, and I was on it, powerless to do anything but enjoy the ride. Bryan is now at a church luncheon and I am on my way from DC to Baltimore to pick up my car. Ryan is almost to Charlottesville, VA.
Liz Hottel Barrett
