LJ Idol, Week 3: A Moment of Bliss

[threeplusfire]

and finding time so hard I pray
let this moment last forever
and will the world stay standing still
at least for me
- VNV Nation, "Standing"


Years ago, a woman I admired gave me a novel and told me to come with her for the summer. She said it would make everything alright, even though she didn't know how. Hana was my Czech professor, and the novel was I Served The King of England by Bohumil Hrabal. I read it alone, sitting in the bath tub of my apartment during the Thanksgiving break from classes. In the summer of 2001 Prague saved my life, though it is hard to explain exactly how and when except for the train.

I studied during the summer at Charles university, taking Czech classes and a film class. Late in June, we took a weekend trip through southern Bohemia. Quite by accident in our travels, we ended up on a train that only ran once a month down to the Austrian border. The locomotive was more close to 150 years old, and the train cars from 1902 had been lovingly restored. The tracks were laid in 1875, old narrow gauge rails. It was the sort of thing I love, old history and memory in strange places. We drank plastic cups of hot rum and water early in the morning.

Between the cars and their creaking connections were narrow stoops with slender iron railings. I spent most of the trip out there, holding on to the rail with both hands and swinging to the rhythm of the wheels. Trains didn't use to be seamless rides, and there was a glorious sense of motion as we spend down through the forest, over streams and stone. Early in the day, the light has that translucent, sparkling quality and the linden trees were spicy and fragrant. My hair, cut short for the first time in years, whipped against my face as I leaned out from the car. I remember wearing a black t-shirt and how the skin on my arms was chilled from the rushing air but my cheeks burned like fever. From time to time other people joined me outside but for most of the trip I was alone.

All at once, something in me switched from monochrome gray to full color. Things were beautiful, after being ashen so long and I could feel them. Everything else didn't matter. All of the chaos waiting on the other side of the ocean didn't matter. I was myself again. I was alive, and it wasn't a mistake. I was alive and it was the happiest day of my life.

It was not one of life's serious ceremonies. It was just a train ride. Perhaps it might seem less meaningful, but I remember the feeling and the taste of that day more clearly than I remember the two different times I got married, my first lover or childhood summers. It was a gift. For an hour on a June morning years ago, the world stood still and that blissful moment lasted forever.

Comments

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. Nice imagery. I love a good old-fashioned train ride.

PS - I wanted to let you know that you didn't leave your link in your comment to the original post.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Ooops, thank you! I think I've done too much cutting and pasting today.

Also, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yay for trains!

[lilmissmagic71.livejournal.com]

Lovely and very compelling...

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly.

[libra-dragon.livejournal.com]

I have always wanted to go on a train ride.
Lovely entry

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reading. Should you ever find yourself in Colorado, there is a train that runs out of Durango that is something similar. I remember riding on it as a kid, though I didn't get to hang off the edge. It goes through some beautiful scenery.

[halfacork.livejournal.com]

I liked this--

Not only that but I think I'm jealous.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you.
(Czech Republic vacation! while the plane will cost ouch, cheap delicious wonderful awaits you!)

[shadowwolf13]

Wow, I love how this was conveyed. You did a really great job on this. :)

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for you kind words.

[cymry.livejournal.com]

i find it's often those entirely random moments that stand out the most, even years later. it sounds wonderful.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Indeed. It was a beautiful day.

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

I took a train across the United States nearly 20 years ago, and I remember how absolutely beautiful it was.

Thank you,

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading. It is nice to discover other folk have enjoyed magnificent train rides.

[abbismom.livejournal.com]

"It was the sort of thing I love, old history and memory in strange places. We drank plastic cups of hot rum and water early in the morning."

I love the way you capture great moments and thoughts with as much grace and hard-punching sentences as the so-called little moments.

Pure loveliness.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you. Perhaps I am so punchy because I drank so much rum punch back then? ;)

[johnmill79.livejournal.com]

I like doing historical stuff like that too. We have an old train that you can ride for a few miles, somewhere near Charlotte, NC. I did that as a cubscout, and it was lots of fun. This entry brought back those memories. Thanks.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could share. I'm going to have to look that train up for the next time I'm on the Eastern side of the country. When I was about 8, I rode a train from Durango to Silverton in Colorado and it was awesome. Except for the part where I ate too much candy and was sick to my stomach, hehe.

[johnmill79.livejournal.com]

lol Ah, the joys of childhood.

[http://users.livejournal.com/____hejira/]

Beautiful. Great job.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reading. :)

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. Sometimes a simple moment is more important than many of the larger events in our lives.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[brightflashes.livejournal.com]

Such an effective piece. I love how you threw in the comparisons to what most people consider "huge" things to this to show how it really was a simple thing that brought forth the animated feelings inside.
Love it and thank you for sharing. : )

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your comments! They were good to read.

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

Very neat entry. I liked this.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like this very much. I can barely remember my first train ride, and now your imagery is prodding me to find a train so I can experience it all over again!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Go for it! Apparently there are many places where one can still ride on older style trains all around the country.

[skimmed-miilk.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous, I liked this a lot!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

My maternal grandparents are from Czechoslovakia (I don't know where, and they are too dead to ask). One of these days I'd love to go to Prague!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely go! Prague, and the whole country really, is so beautiful.

[rosepurr.livejournal.com]

This is nice!

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I could really feel this moment. Nice job.

[majesticarky.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed reading this. I ride the train here often and have never felt like that, but I can imagine how you'd feel from an old fashioned train. I've never been on one of those. I can imagine because you wrote that so well! Bravo :D