We're All Riding on the Train

As part of my birthday celebration, we took a ride on the Amtrak train from Seattle to Chicago on the Empire Builder, and then back through different states from Chicago to Emeryville on the California Zephyr.

They have what's called "community dining" on all Amtrak trains, which means that if you eat in the dining car, you'll be seated with other people until you have a table of four. It means that you'll have different dining companions for each meal.

We met a lot of interesting people, most of whom were older (over 40) and most of whom were visiting relatives somewhere along the Amtrak line.

The most interesting part of this is that I met a few cancer survivors.

One woman had just finished her chemo, and this was after surgery, and they were treating themselves with a trip to see their daughter and their grandson. I was astonished at her complete honesty in the matter -- she just laid it out there, but not in an inappropriate way. She was determined not to let cancer stop her or deter her in any way. Hers was colon cancer, but an advanced stage.

Another woman I met also had had cancer rather recently. She and her husband were finally able to take the trip they had planned the last two years. They had put off the trip because of different health problems that kept coming up in her. Cancer was only one of her problems. She lost one kidney due to cancer. Then, a few years later, she lost her other kidney to diabetes. Her sister was able to donate one of her kidneys, but then her sister came down six months later with cancer that, in my dining companion's words, "ravaged her body." The cancer was not traced back to her sister. They just shook their heads as they told me this story.

During my last meal on the Zephyr, I met a man who told me his wife died several years ago of cancer. It was just part of his conversation, part of his life. He didn't underline it. It just was.

I suspect more people on that train were dealing with cancer, had dealt with cancer, or have loved ones who are dealing with cancer. It was amazing to me how much the subject came up.