Some Saturdays we sit around the house and breathe stale air.
….and that is on me because I’m the parent. I’m the one who directs traffic. If the kids are sitting around playing Roblox all day, it’s because I’m enabling them.
That wasn’t the case yesterday…..
Yesterday we lived life and got a breath of fresh air. We jumped in Betty the Green Blazer and parked her at the Harlem Avenue el stop on what is called the Greenline. Since I’ve turned into my Oldman and can’t accept change, it is still the Lake Street el in my eyes.
We took the el into the loop and down to Bronzeville, getting off at 35th street. A gentrified area in the shadows of De La Salle high school, IIT and Sox Park. The moon was lifting over the lake and the sun was settling over the stadium lights of Comiskey. Perfect timing to catch the CTA Christmas Train scheduled to roll in from the Southside.
Announcements started flooding the CTA speakers. They ran the gamut of excuses.… signal issues, equipment malfunctions and finally the hard truth, police activity.
As darkness pressed down, a regular train pulled in going northbound towards downtown. We jumped on and headed back to the old platform above Adams and Wabash.
I started getting peppered with, “I’m cold,” “I’m hungry” and the ultimate kicker…. “I need to use the bathroom.”
I had George look at the CTA tracker and he said there wasn’t a sign of our colorful choo choo on the map.
I’m standing there on one of the oldest stations in the loop with cold, hungry children that need to pee. Gleaming through the old wood station was the sign for the Exchequer Pub. An old school joint that my dad introduced to me over forty years ago.
At that point I was willing to risk missing our annual ride that culminated with the ultimate goal, a picture with the person who drove the Christmas train.
We walked right in and sat right down. In the old Chicago we would have had to wait, but not in the new Chicago. This paragraph could go political. I’ll just say that I was grateful to have an immediate table.
Fritz and I split a pizza… the best pizza in the loop in my humble opinion. Exchequer is the place I send out of towners that want Chicago pizza. It’s less touristy and more authentic than the joints advertised in travel magazines.
Hazel and George both ordered cheeseburgers and fries. The boys had root beer, Hazel drank water and dad had an Old Style.
I had too….. I drank Old Style here when I was underage. Back then, in Old Chicago, my dad ordered an extra beer for the table. As long as I didn’t make a big deal out of it, I could be a fifteen year old punk eating pizza and drinking beer with his dad.
As we finished our dinner, George checked the tracker….
…..”Dad! The train is pulling into Roosevelt!!!”
I grabbed the check, everyone was full, warm and used the potty. We ran out the door and up the stairs to the platform…..
We got through the turnstiles as the distinct sounds of the Christmas train pulled into the station. We still had one set of stairs to climb. George and Fritz were way ahead of their old dad and sister wearing Crocs.
“Come on dad…. We are going to miss it!”
Hazel lowered her head and bull rushed up the old wooden stairs pulling me along…
“We aren’t missing this train daddy…..”
George put his mannish boy body in the door, Fritz was already sitting breathless in a seat as the announcement, “the doors are closing” was sounding off.
“We made it! We made it Daddy!”
That is when George said, “we definitely wouldn’t have made it if PopPop was here!”
That is when I replied, “are you shitting me George? We made this train because PopPop is here!”
Breathing hard from my quick jaunt up Wabash Avenue and three flights of stairs….
“How many times do I have to tell you guys that Heaven is closer than Hinsdale?”
We got back to Oak Park, we got our picture with Mr. Carr and we saw the moon and Jupiter shine down on the Christmas train.
That was when Hazel proclaimed that this was the best year yet and from now on we go to Exchequer Pub on CTA Christmas Train Day.
This morning when I pondered a quote, I decided on this one from Jonathon Swift.
It simply states that we must cherish every experience, embrace the moment and make the best of our time together.
That is how PopPop would have wanted it to be today. He sure did love taking the train with the Shepkids. He wasn’t there with his big smile and runny nose, but he was there in the shine of the lights and the glow of the moon.
Someday the Shepkids will take this train without me and George will say, “Heaven is closer than Edgewater.”
Go for the Gusto! If there is police activity delaying Santa’s train, go take a piss and get something to eat.
That is the lesson on today’s Morning Chalkboard.
Let’s finish November with gusto and bring December in with oomph!
…and enjoy the second Sunday of the week courtesy of thanksgiving!
