A train ride gives you a lot of time to think. When you have hours to just stare out a window you can’t help it. So when I was on my 17 hour travel day from hell I had a lot of time to think. At one point towards the evening of my very long day our train was stopped at the Netherlands border. The train station we were stopped at had a random patch of flowers, just one patch, growing in the middle of the platform. Gorgeous pink roses with a tint of crimson and small yellow flowers surrounded by barley and tall grass. As the train arrived people shuffled off without even giving these beauties a second glance. I watched as they stared at their phones or hurried past with an anxious look on their faces.
Then, there was one old woman pushing along with her walker who saw these flowers and her eyes lit up as a smile swept across her face. She bent down and inhaled the sweet smell that I could only imagine they emitted. It was at this moment that I thought, “I always hope to be like this woman.”
Someone who remembers that there is always time to stop and smell the roses.
Voyaging Vagabond 