Train of Thought

My grandpa (in middle) and friends about 100 years ago

For the past ten years I have worked in Homestyle Desserts Bakery just one block from our train station in Peekskill, New York.  It seems peculiar really, that I rarely find myself thinking about the trains.  There is a regular onslaught of Metro North commuter trains, Amtrack trains and freight trains whizzing by right next to the bakery, blasting their horns as they pull in and out of the station.  We actually don't hear them much of the time.  The windows and doors are that good, and of course we have lots of our own ambient sounds helping to drown out the noise of the railroad along our idyllic Hudson River waterfront.  There are machine noises from mixers, ovens, fryers as well as the people noises of customers and staff and the $5 Walmart purchased radio that sits in retail.        


I blissfully work in a room pretty much to myself decorating wedding cakes.  Many of these take concentration and focus, so the solitude is a welcome necessity.  While I forget about the trains outside, I do enjoy following the occasional train of thought.  Today's random excursion in my head went something like this:    

My co-worker Katie who was writing on cakes in the adjoining decorating room was double checking with me on how to spell "Manhattan."  I said, "Man...hat...tan.  Think of a man wearing a tan hat."  And that reminded me of an anecdote my youngest brother David told me.  David, who works in Manhattan was leaving work one evening and got on an elevator.  A woman got on at another floor.  David removed his hat.  Mind you, in this day and age, he took his hat off.  He's not some elderly gentleman from a bygone generation, he was in his forties, raised in New York.  He could sense the woman noticed this and, looking a bit puzzled, she turned to him and said, "Did you do that for me?"  David smiled and replied, "My mother raised me right."      

David, if you ever write your memoirs, I suggest the following title, a chapter title at least - "Confessions of a Nice Man Working in Manhattan."  I'm so happy to know one!