Was That Just a Sign?

We got to the Amtrak station in Lynchburg in under an hour and fifteen minutes. After our prior experience with the other "Roanoke" Amtrak station at Clifton Forge, I was surprised to see this was an actual train station, with benches inside, a person behind the counter, and clean rest rooms.






About twenty people departed from this train at Lynchburg and I was happy to see it getting some action, still hoping that one day Roanoke will actually get passenger service too.

My cousin said riding the train from NYC was a much more pleasant experience than riding on the Greyhound bus. Last time it took him over 12 hours on a broken down bus that never even made it to Roanoke. This was before we had cellphones and only by the grace of God was I able to find him in Lynchburg in the middle of the night. This time we kept in touch via phone and the second to last call did concern me when he said, "I just had to fill out an accident report." What?! It wasn't anything very serious, only a scalded hand and ruined cashmere sweater from a hot cup of coffee being spilled on him by the server. Amtrak said they'll make good on the sweater and his hand is still discolored but at least its functional. I hoped this wasn't a bad sign.



We hightailed it out of Lynchburg and wanted to attend a bluegrass hoedown in Salem but by the time we got back we were just too tired so instead just stayed home and ate some of the Italian delicacies he brought from New York, proscuiotto bread and sharp provolone, yummm. On the way back we had stopped at Fresh Market to buy a couple of local snackies and he was really impressed with that store.

I decided my cousin would experience a week in my life so I plan to take him to every store, every restaurant, every outdoor & indoor activity, pretty much just every where I frequent and everything I do as part of my daily routine. It'll be much more fun with a sidekick.

We went to have lunch at the Star City Cafe yesterday because I knew he would love the chickpea fries. As soon as we sat down some woman came over to him and said "I love your shirt." He was wearing a t-shirt he had made that had the front cover of Patti Smith's Horses on it. I first "met" my cousin at a funeral. We instantly clicked and it was over Patti Smith's Horses album. We've been close ever since. When that stranger came over and said "I love your shirt" it gave both of us chills. I don't even know how it came up but the next thing she said was, "You should move to Roanoke. It's cool here, much better than Florida." The moment was surreal like something out of an independent film whereby an angel just floats in, speaks, then disappears so quickly and quietly that one wonders if there really was one at all. That's what happened to us. We were the only people in the restaurant and the woman just seemed to disappear afterwards.

We looked at each other and asked in unison, "Was that just a sign?" Let's see what the rest of the week brings.