Something Nice, For Once

Today (Saturday, as this is being written in the wee hours for reasons I will explain later), I went to work to get in some billable time that I could stick into the month of November. But that's not the focus of this post. I took the train, as usual, to the city. I get more bang for my buck out of my monthly pass when I make use of it on the weekends. I sat in the front section of the front car of the train. On the way down, there was an older man with a cute young boy, no more than 7 or 8. I think he was the child's grandfather but you never know these days! Anyway, the man brought the boy to the front section of the train, just slightly ahead of my seat, but not all the way up to the seat next to the conductor. They were looking through the front window of the train, for a pretty cool view of the approach toward the city. I didn't think that they knew that there was a seat up there. I got up and told told the man that there was a seat next to the conductor, and that he should ask the conductor if the boy could sit there. (I think I've ridden the train with this conductor before, and he seems to be a pretty nice and friendly guy.) So the man takes my advice and asks, and sure enough, they are all the way up front now and they get the best view on the train. Sweet. I went back to playing a Tetris-like game on my Palm, but then closed my eyes for a little bit so I wouldn't dry them out - I get some pretty bad eyestrain with my dry eyes. When I opened my eyes a little later, there was a cute little girl up there, too. She looked like the boy, so I'll assume that they are siblings or related in some way. The conductor gave the kids a quarter each, and slowed the train down as we approached a bridge passing over some water - probably a tributary of the Hudson River. He told the kids to make a wish and throw the quarters through his window into the water under the bridge. He slowed the train down to a virtual stop, and the kids made their wishes and tossed the quarters through the window. That was so cute, I couldn't help but watch and smile. I loved it! It warmed my chilly heart. I'd love to do that for my nephews - I can just see their beautiful, bright faces lighting up at the view, and the chance to make a wish on the river. Or at least to have the nice view. I know that one in particular has a thing for trains. It would be sweet. I need to invite them up so we can do that sometime.