No Reason

My very favorite sound of all time, other than the sound of my children's laughter, is the mournful sound of a train whistle in the distance.

This sound is especially mournful sounding during the autumn, when for some reason, it just sounds better. Maybe sound travels differently at that time of year, but the train whistle can sound so haunting as the leaves begin to fall off the trees and the mornings are brisk.

I sit here now, in the middle of January, on one of the colder mornings I've experienced and I strain to hear the train sound that seems to travel so well in the autumn. I can barely hear it. I know it's there, but I have to strain, and as I listen to it, it seems to lack that quality it carries with it during the fall. It doesn't seem to be crying...it doesn't seem to be mourning the end of the summer. It's just a whistle.

Maybe that's why it sounds so different during the fall...because it seems to be mourning something. The sound drags on forever then. Now it's just whistle blast and nothing more. I suppose a scientist might say it has something to do with the weather, or the snow muffles the sound, or my own senses are dulled by the long winter season, but I think the train whistle mourns the passing of summer and sends out her melancholy call for all to hear.

I'm a romantic. It's just who I am. I'm not about to try to change that now so I can become more practical minded. I wouldn't want to see the world that way, with logical, reasonable explanations for everything beautiful....everything miraculous. I like not having a reason for everything I see. It makes me feel closer to the divine.

So, is the sound of a train in the distance during the autumn something that can bring you closer to the divine? I think so. It stirs my soul to hear it, wakes up the divine within me, and brings me a little piece of eternity right here on earth.

No reason. Just beauty. Embrace it.