My visit to my mother

You wouldn't think this was such a big occasion but it's been about two and a half years since I was able to take time to travel 600 miles to visit my mother. We talk all the time on the phone but that is not nearly the same. Mom is 87 years old and needs more help than in the past. I would like to see her move near me and my family so I could take care of her but she is hesitant to leave the home she's lived in for 60 years and she is worried about how much more expensive it is to live on Cape Cod than it is to live near Pittsburgh. I've got a few stories to tell about my visit but the first is about my getting there. It could be titled, "A miracle happens and how I almost ruined it".

I love traveling by train but if you travel anywhere but busy routes, your options for selecting when you want to travel are limited. For instance, there are only two trains a day from the East Coast to Pittsburgh. If you don't want to take the circuitous route through Washington DC, that means you have only one choice and you must arrive in Pittsburgh at 8:05 pm. That's not so bad except that the only bus service from Pittsburgh to my old hometown has only two buses leaving the city after 8:05 pm - one at 8:20 pm and one at 10:10 pm. They get to her town an hour later but Mom doesn't usually stay up much past 9 pm so the earlier bus is preferred. Would Amtrak operate the train that close to schedule? I've had good luck with them in the past - except for the last time on my ride home where the train was 45 minutes late. But there was no choice. The train is less expensive and at least gets me to a place (downtown Pittsburgh) that airlines cannot match. Also, I can't imaging traveling that far by bus and I didn't want to drive and deprive my family of the use of our car for over a week. So, I was going to hope and pray that the train would be on time.

We started off well. The train from Providence to Philadelphia was on time and the train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh started out on time. It remained on time until after we left Harrisburg. Then, another train (a freight train I believe) got switched onto the track ahead of us and we started losing time. Comparing the arrival time at each stop to its scheduled time showed that we were losing ground - first we were 5 minutes late, then 10, 15, etc until we were 35 minutes late at a stop, Altoona, PA, that is 117 miles from Pittsburgh. I called Mom and gave her the bad news. Of course, she could have asked one of our relatives to pick me up or I could have just walked the half mile from the bus stop to her house but she felt she already asked our relatives to help too much and she wouldn't hear of me walking. "No," she said, "I'll pick you up at 11 pm when that last bus arrives." She wouldn't be able to take a nap or even rest before that, of course. She would be too worried to lay down. I knew it would be a horrible start to my visit and would certainly get our first full day together off to a late start. But then the miracle happened. The train normally averages about 39 miles per hour through the mountains from Altoona to Pittsburgh but this night, the engineer averaged 48 mph. They also kept the waiting time at each of the three remaining stops to a minimum. Slowly, the time deficit shrank. We were down to being 25 minutes late when we got to Johnstown (78 miles to go) and we were about 15 minutes late when we got to Latrobe (41 miles to go) and by the time we left the last stop before Pittsburgh, Greensburg (only 31 miles to go), the conductor announced that we'd arrive in Pittsburgh only 5 minutes late! I could make the bus if I planned my moves and nothing else happened. As we got close to the station, I got my bags ready but then I felt I needed to go to the bathroom. I had never been to the new bus terminal in Pittsburgh and had no idea where the restrooms were and I knew there were none on the bus.

I rushed to the restroom on the train but many people were already in the aisles getting ready to leave. I had to weave my way around them and some people were blocking the close restrooms. I ended up needing to travel three cars back to find an accessible restroom. As I was finishing, we arrived at the station and everyone else on the train was in the aisle with their bags. I couldn't get through so I jumped off the train at the nearest exit and ran up the side of the train. But I couldn't get into my car until everyone at that door was off. Finally, I jumped on, collected my bags and jumped off the train again.

The bus station is right across the street from the train station and I got there in a few minutes. I still had over 5 minutes before the scheduled departure for my bus. As I said, I'd never been to this newly built bus terminal. It was built by Greyhound but they rent out space to some independent bus lines like the one that traveled through my mother's town. I could see no information about which gate had which bus or what time they were to leave. I ran down the line of buses and found one from the bus line I needed. But there was no one there and the bus had no destination listed on the front. The doors for all of the gates were locked but I finally found one door that would open. Impulsively, I pushed through the door and ran to the bus anyway. I thought about just waiting there for the driver to show up but what if this was the wrong bus? Were there other gates for this bus line? I decided I'd better look.

But when I tried to reenter the terminal, I found the door was locked. All the doors for all the gates were locked. I ran back to the one door I found that let me get out to the bus but it was locked in this direction. I ran around looking for someone to help and finally someone inside opened the door for me. I ran to the information desk (which had been busy before) and found only two people ahead of me. But the customer at the window was having a hard time deciding which bag to check and which bag to carry on the bus. Then she needed more information about times and routes and... All the while I am getting more desperate. I tried to keep my eye on the bus I suspected was the correct one but I also wanted to keep looking for other buses of the same bus line. Finally, it was my turn to talk to the agent.

She didn't know anything about the town I was heading to! She worked for Greyhound. She was going to call her supervisor but I noticed someone walking near the bus I'd had my eye on. He opened the gate to let in the one customer standing there and they headed to the bus as the door closed behind them. I excused myself and ran to the gate only to find the door locked (of course). The man who had opened the door turned out to be the bus driver and was getting ready to start up the bus to leave. I waved to him but he was too busy to see me. I knocked on the door but it was too noisy and he didn't hear me. So, I started pounding on the door. Yes, he'll let some mad man onto his bus! What was I thinking? But I pounded louder and louder. Finally, he looked up and came over to let me in. Yes, it was the right bus and I'd made it.

I settled into my seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I realized that I'd better let my mother know that I'd be there at 9 pm. You never heard a more relieved voice as when I told her she wouldn't have to stay up until 11 pm that night. This started off our wonderful week together. Yes, miracles do happen but that's only the beginning. God gives us a great start but we've got to be careful not to mess things up.