This was posted on another thread, and I thought it was so wonderful it had to be its own thread!
I'm going to start by saying I've made two! One was a similar situation to the above (an open door, a cheery greeting). The woman I greeted shared a poster of herself with one of her students, a famous basketball player. She had been his favorite teacher. The second was one of my meal companions on a trip where we shared the same trains (and arranged to eat together) all the way across the country. I have visited both in their home towns, we are friends on social media, and we share common interests. I will see them any time I'll be traveling near where they live.
One of the things I found most interesting the first trip I took without Hubby was the community of women traveling alone that develops on a two-day journey. Most of them are passing friends, but a few turn into a long-lasting friendship.
Here's a topic I haven't seen much of on this forum... when lifelong friendships are made on the train!
It's certainly not beyond reality that truly wonderful things happen during a train journey. We meet people and promise to keep in touch but most times that never materializes. We get off the train and move on... forgoing many opportunities to maintain contact and build long lasting friendships. So this may actually be an unusual story...
Was on the SW Chief heading to LA and upon walking past the first bedroom the door was open... and I said a friendly hello. We met at lunch a bit later and continued to exchanged stories about our lives and backgrounds. It seemed that the topics of interest were endless. They were coming out west to see their adult daughter living near Flagstaff AZ; by the time we got there we had exchanged email and text addresses. Was given a home made pot scrubber as a momento... I was so sad to see them get off.
Our communications continued; and for the next Christmas I received a big sturdy box in the mail... in it was a bag of noodles that were made in the church women's group... along with a beautiful card. The postage on the box was almost $9 - which brought tears. Then I created a graphics message and framed it... sending it back. It arrived with the glass broken but it arrived! Posted below.
We have been corresponding for many years... and this has turned into a lifelong friendship. They are aging... as are we all, but am encouraging them to come out to the Oregon Coast for a visit. And I too… would like to visit them in Indiana. Now there's covid... but we are all hoping the reunite once again.
I wonder how many on this forum have made life long friends from a casual acquaintance on a train??? For sure, there's nothing in the entire world as special as traveling on a train!
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I'm going to start by saying I've made two! One was a similar situation to the above (an open door, a cheery greeting). The woman I greeted shared a poster of herself with one of her students, a famous basketball player. She had been his favorite teacher. The second was one of my meal companions on a trip where we shared the same trains (and arranged to eat together) all the way across the country. I have visited both in their home towns, we are friends on social media, and we share common interests. I will see them any time I'll be traveling near where they live.
One of the things I found most interesting the first trip I took without Hubby was the community of women traveling alone that develops on a two-day journey. Most of them are passing friends, but a few turn into a long-lasting friendship.