Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mom friends--and all of you who aren't mothers also. Don't you deserve a special day just for being kids of mothers!

The other day I witnessed a mother in action caring for her five babies. I'm not certain I'd have followed her if she was my mother, as she was leading her little ducklings across a busy four lane road. But, she must have had a duck angel sitting on her shoulder because not only was she crossing with the light, she was only a few feet outside the crosswalk!

Somehow that reminded me of another instance of following in blind faith. Many years ago Mike and I made a last minute "investigative" trip to NYC, with reservations to fly out and shadow a subject the next day. We rose early with plans to head to the city in our few hours before we flew out at 5 pm. A senior at our hotel asked if he could tag along with us. Obviously, he didn't know us.

We took the shuttle to the train station--no problems. Bought tickets--no problems. Then we followed the directions to Track One. On our way we heard an announcement--"Train on Track One now leaving." With our limited time, we did not want to miss the train, so we ran--with our senior dutifully running after us. We sighed with relief when we rushed on the train just before the doors closed. All was well!

Then the conductor came around. When he looked at our tickets, he said, "These are for the Path train."

"Isn't this the Path train?" we asked, stunned.

"No, you're on Amtrack," he said, rolling his eyes.

Visons of heading to Washington D.C., or Boston flooded our minds. What about the senior following us?What about our five o'clock flight??????? How would crack PI's explain getting on the wrong train and missing the plane????????????

"Where are we headed?" Mike asked.

My stomach churned waiting for the answer.

"Well, you're lucky. We're going to New York City. Our stop is only one block away from where the Path stops."

The relief on our faces must have softened his heart. "I'm supposed to charge you extra, but I won't."

After making our way the extra block to the Empire State building--with our senior still following us--we found fog prevented our view of the city!

At least we got the senior back to the hotel with no further mishaps, caught our plane, and followed our subject back to Salt Lake City. Mission accomplished with our reputation intact!