Time turner
“Life is but a sigh.” - Sweet elderly lady on the train
I sit comfortably on the train. It’s raining outside. The sky is grey. It’s one of those typically Dutch days. Raindrops trickle down the window as the train rushes on through the dreary landscape surrounding me.
I’m on my way to meet a friend. I pass the time reading. At one of the stops an elderly lady enters the compartment and sits right across from me. I look up and politely smile at her. She politely smiles back. I go back to reading my book.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice that she keeps trying to read the title on the cover of my book. After a while she finally speaks up and comments that she finds the topic of my book fascinating.
I’m reading ‘What would John do? Flour Power - Baking Your Way To Happiness’. Great book by the way, but that’s a whole other story. I find the topic fascinating as well and we start talking.
After a while she tells me a story about an elderly lady she met once while she was younger. The story begins with “When I was about your age…”, as it always does when older people tell a story. “… I met an elderly lady on the train. She smiled at me. I smiled back. We started talking.”
“Dear, life is but a sigh. It’ll be over before you know it. Make the best of it and enjoy every minute of it.” - the elderly lady tells her. She chuckles a little and replies: “I still have a whole lifetime ahead of me.”
Now, a lifetime later, she tells me the story. Time has gone by so fast. We’ve come full circle.
The train arrives at our stop and as we’re about to get off the train, her final words to me are:
“Life is but a sigh, dear. Enjoy it.”
