Everybody Has A Story

March 1, 2026

On California Zephyr In Western Nebraska

114 AM

The train is rockin’ tonight! It’s wobbling side-to-side making it hard for me to sleep. So I got up; maybe I’ll get so tired I fall asleep or maybe I won’t!

I make so many assumptions when I see a stranger. Heck, just that word is filled with an assumption — is “strange” the right idea? I assume from their appearance that I can infer many things about them. I do that even while I know my conclusions are baseless.

Yesterday I had fascinating conversations with a tattoo artist (and an usher at Red Rocks), a man dealing with the grief of his wife’s death, a waitress in the dining car, and a couple of older sisters on a 12-day train trip to reconnect. I found we had things in common, they knew interesting facts about many topics and they wanted to talk about their experiences. I feel by listening to them I gave them the respect, kindness and acknowledgement they deserve. That we all deserve.

And I learned again that Chicago is a great, well-loved city. Yeah, I should have moved with her there. Biggest mistake I have ever made.