Lost in Trainslation (take 2)

Sitting on the cold stone bench I held my son and rocked him back and forth humming the “Happy Birthday to you” song. Wide eyed and petrified I carefully observed my surroundings afraid of getting mugged or worse…...

It is ten o’clock at night in Richmond and the only people around are homeless crack heads and me, my six-year-old daughter and three-year-old son. I say that with the utmost respect for our homeless community but I was in a real bad area. A young couple with a baby approaches me and I immediately feel a sense of security. The woman comes and sits down right next to me, so close that she is touching my son. I move Rylan’s leg and I start to shake. She chose this bench not the ten other empty ones; she stares at me with the hungriest, most desperate eyes I have ever seen. I held my two babies and I stared back long and hard to let her know that I was not afraid but more important to let her know that I was not going down easy. I stared until she starting laughing out loud and I watched her push her stroller to another bench.

Rylan was shaking and Ashlyn was wrapped in a “cars” towel that Ry received a few hours ago as a birthday gift. They were shaking because they were wearing shorts and we were in Richmond where it was at best 60 degrees. How did we end up here?

It was a sunny morning in Sacramento. I was excited to head to the Bay Area and escape the heat for the afternoon. It was Rylan’s third birthday and we were going to ride a real train. His love for trains is about as strong as a teenage boy’s love for video games. My present to him was a visit to the Bay Area to have lunch with his grandparents and ride the train of course.

After our visit he was more than ready to get on the train and head back to Sacramento. As we walked up to the tracks there were three different tracks, two which occupied trains. Carrying my laptop, my sons blanket or “wooby” and about ten gift bags I decide to get on the first train to ask if it is the Sacramento train. Before the man I asked could answer the doors closed and this is where my nightmare began. By the time I got myself together I realized we were on a commuter train heading for San Francisco.

San Francisco at 5 o’clock on a Friday! Panic rushed through my body and I could feel my heartbeat pound in my head and pulsate through fingertips.

“Dear God, I know it has been a long time since we talked but I could use some help.” Unfortunately God is not as quick to offer help to those who only speak to him in pure desperation but something happened that night in Richmond as I froze to a stone bench with my children and our ten “carry-ons”.

Since I was not going to leave my fate completely in God’s hands I called a quick acting friend who guided me to a BART train and then to Richmond where our train would pick us up.

After waiting at the Richmond station for two hours we found three people from Sacramento who were all in similar situations. My son told them “Mommy got on the wrong train and I am scared.”

We boarded the Sacramento bound train with help from our new friends, and felt much relief that our nightmare was over.

Although I did want to give him a third birthday to remember, this was not what I had in mind. His love for trains faded in the last month but I am confident that it will return. More important I hope that he knows that his mom can handle anything and will go through desperate measure to assure that he is safe, and once in a while she even talks to God.