What Happened Next

This is one story in a series of stories that tell about a backpack trip to Europe in the spring of 1976 by myself in an effort to run away from the pain of a broken heart. (To read from the beginning Google "The Ramblings of an Aging Baby Boomer" and go back to March 27th, "I'll Never Find Love Again.")

Monday, April 5, 1976,  Rome, Italy

The trip yesterday to the castle in Monaco where Grace Kelly lives with her prince didn't happen. The timing didn't work because I was taking the train to Rome and I didn't want to take a chance on missing it. Plus I was feeling a little under the weather after exploring Nice in the rain Saturday.

Jim and Randy went with me to the train station to make sure I got on my way safely. What nice people I'm meeting on this trip.

Luckily for me, I found an empty cabin. That was good fortune because I didn't feel like being sociable. Even though the seats are designed to accommodate sleep, I tried but didn't succeed. I changed positions a hundred times, but still no luck in the slumber department. Finally nodded off into a semi-conscious state.

The train jolted to a stop and I jumped out of my seat. The sudden stop confused me because I didn't think we should be stopping so soon. I got up, straightened my wrinkled mess of clothes, wiped the sleep (even though I didn't get any) out of my eyes and walked out into the aisle.

I could not believe what happened next.

I saw familiar. In a place where everything is foreign and different and unfamiliar, I saw familiar. Standing in the aisle just one train car away, looking out the window was Willem. I couldn't believe it. I thought I had lost my friends, yet in all of the trains in all of Europe, in all of the possibilities of dates and times and places...here stood Willem, thirty feet away. He had stepped out of his cabin at the exact same moment I had.

Willem saw me almost immediately and for a second he stood frozen, not believing his eyes. Then, just like in the movies, we ran toward each other. He grabbed and hugged me and lifted me off the floor, laughing and yelling for Charles to come see what he'd found on the next train car over. Charles came out of the cabin and when he saw me, his jaw dropped. He kept saying,"What? What? I can't believe it!" The odds were against it, but there we all were, back together again.  I cried. I am so happy to be back in the fold with my friends.

So happy to be back with Willem and Charles

On the train to Rome