Xmas recap...

Well, we made it through. My mom actually cried when I gave her the painting and dad seemed to enjoy his as well. We also managed to see a lot of old friends and steer clear of any maudlin Xmas wallowing, which seems to be especially prevalent in my family. Small victory.

Xmas eve we boarded the Coast Starlight for our ride to Seattle which is one of the most scenic and romantic trips you can make on a train in the U.S. This trip was a little different than the last one we took in that we spent the bulk of our time playing with little kids instead of holed up in our room reading books.

The adventure started in the Oakland Amtrak station when two little girls (Alexis 7, Caitlin 5) approached me as I was playing my uke and started asking me questions about it. We ended up singing some songs together and making up our own songs to pass the time which was cool cause I love kids. Their mom was on a bench about thirty feet away and was obviously in a bad way. It looked like she had tied one on to get through the holiday and, indeed, it turns out that she had. So, I avoided talking with her too much. (Being around drunks makes me itchy. Especially since I used to be one.) So Sharon and I concentrated on the kids and played games with them. At this point the mom asks if we can watch them while she steps outside to have a cigarette and after I say "sure", it occurs to me how insane that request is. Who asks strangers to look after their little girls in a train station? I guess a drunk who needs a nicotine fix. Wow.

Xmas Day
When the train finally gets there, we part ways and I tell the girls that after breakfast the next morning, Sharon and I will come visit them and we can sing some more songs. So, after we get cleaned up, we venture down to where they are and find that mom is either: A.) still drunk from the night before or B.) Has gotten an early start and cooked herself some Popov on toast. Messy. The kids are obviously embarrassed by their mother's behaviour and ask if we can take them to the play room. Again, insanely enough, the mother thinks this is a great idea. Fine with us. So, we find out while we are playing with the lame toys that Amtrak supplies to calm the kiddies that Alexis' birthday happens to fall on Christmas. Wow. Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, your mom is blotto and you're on a train. Bleak. So, Sharon, in a fit of genius thinking, remembers that she has a puzzle in her bag that she had purchased for her little sister who is seven and runs back to the car to get it, along with a frog ornament that she had bought for herself. People, it was heart breaking to see how much these girls appreciated these gifts.

Soon it was time for them to get off the train and time for us to say goodbye. We had spent most of our train ride with these total strangers and it was amazing how much these girls had grown on us.

Sharon and I don't and won't have kids and we're fine with that. We have other people's kids in our life and we do the wacky uncle/auntie thing pretty well. That's our schtick. But when you see a pair of kids that are suffering, it breaks your heart and makes you want to scoop them up and show them a better life. Odds are, we'll never see those two girls again, but I can't stop thinking about what the future holds for them. It makes me more than angry.