Is it still Wednesday? Why yes, it is. Does it matter? Why no, it doesn’t! It is, however, time for Friday Fictioneers and I needs must thank Rochelle for being such a wonderful hostess and this week, thanks to go Alicia Jamtaas for her wonderful photo. If you want to play along, or simply read other submissions, just click on the frog below!
The Whistle Blows
Fred shuffled to his rocking chair set up on the wrap-around porch and sighed as he settled into it.
The breeze tickled his cheek and he swore carried with it the whistle of the five o’clock train. He was ten and running out to meet it, counting how many freight cars there were. Sometimes the train was so long, he got lost in the numbers. One thing was for sure and certain. The last car was always the caboose and the conductor always leaned out and waved back. Never failed to make him smile.
Who you waving at, Grandpa?…. Grandpa?
What a tale. The last train for Grandpa. It he goes out smiling and waving. Touching. Good job Dale.
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Thank you, Jan. A gentle way to go. Glad you enjoyed.
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I did that as a kid. Trains carried mining stuffs. Hating just missing the crossing because the train took 20mins to pass. I might be exaggerating a bit. The count seemed infinity. Lovely story.
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We had some loooooong trains. Every three months had to push the glasses back in the cabinet!
Thank you 😊
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Haha did any ever smash?
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No – we had glass windows that held them in!
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Moving story, Dale and beautiful!
(Second image shows a broken link… I’ll check later from another computer)
Many hugs your way! 😘🤗
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…turns out it was the link! I see it now! xoxo
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It worked? That’s weird… It didn’t for me on my phone. I’ll crawl outta bed soon…😉
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It didn’t work on the phone for me either but it worked on my computer. Maybe it’s something to do with androids… 😉
Good morning!
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Same! Must be! As long as it works on the computer!
And sorry I got sidetracked…. good evening!
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…and happy (very early to you) Friday!
🤗😘🤗😘🤗
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Not that early… it’s 8:20 😉 I start work in ten minutes. Meaning, I move from my living room and laptop to my kitchen and work laptop 😉
🤗😘
Happy Friday to you!
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🤣😂🤣😂 don’t forget to take your snack for the road!!!! 😉🤣🤣😂
😘😘😘😘😘
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Buahahaha!!
No worries! Full on equipped! 🤣😂😘
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Good!!!!! That goes for gasoline too!!! 😉😂😂
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Oh yeah. All filled up! And the windshield washer fluid, too!
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👍👍😂❤️
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Almost cocktail hour!
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Clink! 🍸🍹
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🍷🍺
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🥛🥞🍪
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Thank you, Marina.
Oh snap! Lemme go fix that!
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xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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xoxoxo
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😘😘😘😘😘
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😘😘
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❤
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Does it matter, I wonder, if Grandpa is no longer Grandpa provided he’s happy?
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I think it’s a lovely way to go, don’t you?
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Lovely, Dale! Hope you are safe and well…
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Thank you, Lori. And I am! As I hope you Nd yours are.
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So glad to hear it, Dale! And yes, thankfully we are well, too.
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Wonderful. One day we will be free again 🙂
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Such a sweet tale! ❤️
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Thank you! Would that we could all go out with a smile and a wave… 💞
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Yes. ❤️
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💞
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Dear Dale,
It’s for sure and certain this story brought a tear to my eye. Much said in few words. Applause!
Shalom and lotsa nostalgic hugs,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
I thought you might like that little turn of phrase 😉 And a nice way to go, don’t you think? With a smile and a wave…
Shalom and lotsa sweet love,
Dale
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A poignant piece indeed Dale.
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For Whom the Whistle Blows? There is something mournful about a train whistle. Nice write.
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Haha… Dang! I should have written that as a title! Thank you.
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Q
I think there is something humane to that period of time in a person’s life. When it takes their mind back to other times and they truly believe they are back there inside that time. I know some people will find it sad, but I think it’s something else. And not so bad. I think it allows them a peaceful landing, I really do.
I wasn’t sure where you were going with this, but you went poignant, and special in my opinion.
B
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B,
I love that we can do that… transport ourselves back to a time that felt free and brought us much joy. And if that is the path that brings us to that final smile? What a fantastic way to go, I say.
I thank you. So glad you felt it special and poignant.
Q
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I do too. I think it’s nature giving us a smooth landing. I mean, it can be a lot worse than that for some, which is why I tend to think this is a good way to go.
It was. 🙂
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If only it could be so for everyone.
You so sweet. 😊
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No, you so sweet.
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Delightful! A wave of nostalgia!
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Thank you, Peter! Glad you enjoyed!
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I’m there with Grandpa. I can’t see the trains from our house, but I can count the cars as I here them clickity clack along there way. I really like the story, Dale and the photo.
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Thank you, Timothy. My old house used to shake every time the train passed. Had to push back the glasses in the china cabinet ever 3-4 months.
Glad you liked the story but I can’t take kudos for the photo!
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When we visited my grandmother in Kansas, she lived in a small house that was no more than 50 feet from the railroad tracks. The trains really shook that little house. Of course I loved it when I was six years old, and I would run out and count the cars and wave to the engineers and conductors like Grandpa. It was sad when they gave up cabooses.
BTW my neighbor worked for the railroad all his life. We have a huge rail yard complex just south of downtown that was the main shop in the US for repairing steam locomotives. It’s been used it several movies and TV shows in recent years. My neighbor started his career as a railroad machinist working on steam locomotives in the Rail Yards when he as 19 years old, the year after I was born. It’s amazing to think steam locomotives were still in service in 1959, but for only a year after that.
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What a wonderful memory and yes, it is so sad that cabooses became a thing of the past.
Wow. What a wonderful career, I should think. It is amazing that steam locomotives were in service in ’60 still.
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I think they were is service in England into the early 1980s. I assume Margret Thatcher was the one that did away with them when she was fighting the coal miners unions.
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That would make sense…
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What a beautifully sweet tale! 🙂 ❤
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Thank you, Bear! 💞
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Lovely, Dale, that remembering makes him smile, and wave.
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Thank you, Jilly. A nice way to go, don’t you think?
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That’s the way to go – gently, with a friendly face to welcome you.
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Yes! Would that we all could…
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Aw, sad but not really. We’d all love to die with smiles on our faces!
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Exactly. Not sad at all (well, except for the ones left behind, of course).
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There is something very magical about trains for both the young and old.
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This is true! My youngest and his father loved to lie on the floor and watch Mick’s childhood set go round and round. So one day we went for a train trip from downtown Montreal to the West Island. Half an hour and the smile on the kid’s face was priceless.
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I suspect Muck had an equally compelling smile at the experience.
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Mick was my biggest kid 😉
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They always are. 💖
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I love the sound of an old train whistle. We have a small railway museum nearby and can often hear the whistle going on a quiet weekend. I loved the sense of nostalgia in this story Dale.
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A poignant response, Dale! I love it.
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Thank you, Jan. So glad you do
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Lovely evocative tale, Dale. A wistful way to go.
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Thanks, Iain. It is a lovely way, don’t you think?
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I can’t think of many better ways to go.
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Me neither 🙂
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A lovely story. A lovely way to go. And how clever you are to tell us of Grandpa’s death by the simple repetition of “Grandpa”.
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Thank you, Penny. So glad that came across!
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it looks he’s getting there. the train would soon stop and take him for a ride.
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I think he has already hopped on…😊
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I love this Dale, bless granddad. As an aside I fell in love with trains while I was on the Rocky Mountaineer, I saw the size of the freight trains, I used to loose count too! …..loads of trains…only saw one bear! 😉💜
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Thank you, Willow. Such a lovely way to go.
I would have loved to go on that one!
Hey one is better than none! 🤗🧡
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Yes indeed but I so wanted to see bears 💜
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I get it 😉 🧡
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Lol 💜💜
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Remembering a childhood moment of joy. What a way to go. Great one, Dale.
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Thank you so much, John. The best way, I should think. Pleased you enjoyed.
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Yup. I did enjoy it. 😁
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Sweet! So glad you did!
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I’m not sure if that’s a happy story or a sad one. Either way, it took me back. I grew up in a small town. The train whistle echoed throughout. There was a park, the trees, hills, and trails kind, a few blocks from my house where there a few places that overlooked the train tracks. If we timed it right, we could watch the train pass below. It was fun as a kid.
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I think it is a bittersweet story. A nice way for an old man to go but sad for his survivors.
And I’m glad this sent you down memory lane. That in itself is wortwhile!
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Oh, this touched my heart in ways no one will ever know. Thank you.
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Awww. Thank you, Alicia – and for such a wonderful photo, as well.
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A heartwarming piece, Dale. 🙂 I’ve had to teach my grandsons what a caboose is via books because they don’t have them on trains here anymore. Kind of sad, actually. (I’m sounding old, aren’t I?)
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Thank you, Robin. It is sad that cabooses are no longer necessary. Was cool that it was a cabin for all the workers. Sigh.
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He had a train to catch, didn’t he? I’m so glad it was one from happy memories. Beautifully written, Dale.
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Yes, he did. His last one. Thank you so much, Dora.
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This was such a beautiful and touching story, Dale. At least he died while having happy memories.
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You painted a sweet and serene setting. Gteat work.
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Thank you, Drew. A gentle way to go…
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Awwww what a lovely story and a lovely end for Grandpa. He seemed to be happy in that last memory. Wonderfully written!
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Thank you so much, Laurie. Yes, that is such a lovely way to go 🙂
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Not a bad way to go, lost in happy memories.
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I could not agree more 🙂
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Makes me smile with fondness and affection for this old man I never knew and maybe didn’t even exist. Some talent you have there, Missus.
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Glad it made you smile and feel affection for my fictional old man. I thank you for such a lovely thing to say!
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🙂 I do sometimes say nice things
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More often than sometimes 🙂
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I’m a nice person. 🙂
I can be a bitch, but it’s not my usual operating system
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Same with me. I don’t particularly like being a bitch now – except in rare circumstances 😉
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I have to be pushed. Guess it’s the same for you. But some people… you know… they don’t understand *nice*
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Yes, you are correct. Some people do whatever they can to take you out of your nice!
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Some folks aren’t happy unless they’re receiving some form of abuse. Angry victims. So sad.
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This is true. Awful.
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🙂
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A gently moving story, Dale. Well done.
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Thank you, Sandra. Glad you though so 🙂
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Lovely tale! I was running beside him counting those cars!
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Thank you! Glad you did!
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Lost in his on world. Sad but maybe also in a peaceful way. Touching story.
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Thank you, Otto. I think it is a nice way to go. Peacefully and with a smile and a wave.
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Oh, my, did he catch his last train? I hope so. What a wonderful touching story.
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He did catch his very last train… Thank you.
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Wistful memory. The photo goes so well with your story.
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Thank you, Ina. When I saw the photo prompt, I immediately had my last line… Glad it worked and that you enjoyed.
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Sweet. And very well done.
My grandfather was – amongst many things – a railroad man. 🙏🏻
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Merci Brieuc!
So glad you enjoyed. And how lovely that you have first-hand knowledge of the railways (i should think?)
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I remember the coal trains going from Paris to Britany to visit my grandfather. Very early 60’s before the railroad was completely electrified.
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What a delightful if softly sad tale! May we all get to ride the train of memories into our favorite recollections …
This is lovely.
I am late to get to any writing prompts this week, but saved this one in my inbox to be the first one I read after I posted mine (well, and after reading Queen Rochelle’s … 🙂 ).
Hugs
Na’ama
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Thank you, my friend. Would it not be lovely to be able to choose?
Awww… how sweet are you? I just opened yours so… ‘scuse me while I go read something surely fantabulous.
Hugs,
Dale xoxo
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Awwww back! 🙂
Yes, choice is good!
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🙂
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A touching story!
Ronda
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Thank you, Ronda!
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Sweet and sad at the same time. The last whistle blow. A very touching story so well written, Dale.
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Such a heartwarming tale. I love your choo-choo froggie also.
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Lovely. Childhood impressions remain with us forever.
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Thank you. Yes they do, don’t they?
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Grandpa? … Oh no!!!! … but I want to know the real story of the photo.
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Yes, I’m afraid so. But a lovely way to go, don’t you think? And I couldn’t say what the real story is as I didn’t take it!
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Lovely story Dale, told with gentleness, most poignant. Well done.
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Thank you, Francine. So very glad you liked 🙂
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I think that was a good way to go, traveling with the conductor in a nice warm caboose
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Thank you, Michael. I like to think so, too 🙂
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A beautiful story. Thank you for sharing. I believe they will see each other again one day. ❤
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Thank you so much, Anne. I like to think they will 🙂
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So nice and happy~
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A nice way to bid adieu…
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Sweet story, seems like Grandpa has gone on to the big Junction in the sky.
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He has indeed. Thank you.
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