The Only Me

I have a very popular first name.
Ever since I was married, I have a very popular last name.

My hubby's name is also popular. He'll even roll off some number of how many others have his first and last name. He will tell you all about having to give additional information every time someone pulls up an account with his name.

For me? Hasn't been a problem yet... until lately.

I know all about multiple Sarahs. There were at least 2 at all times in my class all through grade school. I know all about always having to write your first name and last initial [Sarah O.] on assignments. Then, when all the grade schools in my hometown joined together for middle school and high school, there ranged from 4-6 Sarahs in my class. Sarah is a popular name. I know.

I have never had the problems I've had this year, though.

You see, after the first nine weeks of school, I received a new student whose mother just so happened to share my same name AND is now working for the same school district, except that her first name is spelled S-a-r-a... the wrong spelling of Sarah. [ha ha]

At first it was ha-ha-how-strange-is-that kind of interesting. Over this last nine weeks, though, it has become rock-in-your-shoe annoying.

I'm getting emails intended for her, which I have to reply to or forward on. And today, for the first time, I received a phone call intended for her.

Me: Hello. This is Sarah.
Doug: Hi. This is Doug from the train (?) company.
Me: Hi.

You know, our grade level used to take a field trip up to Abilene, and one of our activities was eating our sack lunch on a train. We haven't done that for a couple of years. I thought maybe they'd missed us! [ha ha] Anyway, I had no idea why I was getting a phone call from a train person, so I figured I'd let him do all the talking.

After the awkward pause (where I think he thought I was supposed to know who he was and communicate that), he continued by saying something about me being recommended by Marvin at the Circle school district.
Hmm. I don't know anyone in the Circle district, but... cool!

Me: Oh. Ok.

At that point he said something about energy, and it clicked in my head that he truly did not want to talk to me. He wanted the Sara [whose name is spelled incorrectly]. I told him I didn't have her contact information, so he'd have to call the district office. The funny thing [to me] was that the district office is apparently the one who directed him to me. Yikes. The ducks were not in a row this morning. For sure.

All I can say is, I hear this other Sara's job is only a 2 year position. Phew! I like being the only me in the district!

Riding the Rails

I'm not a pro, but I've had some experience traveling by train. My mom and I rode one to visit my grandma in Indiana when I was little. One way, the trip lasted about 15 hours. We left early in the morning and arrived in time for dinner.

My husband recently had his first experience on a train. He didn't just put his little toe daintily in the water; nope, he dove in head first! We rode 30 hours to the Los Angeles Union Station, spent a few days with family, then rode 30 hours back home.

I wanted to share some of the tips we learned on our 60 hour train experience:

• The Amtrak website advises, "Each passenger may bring aboard no more than two pieces of carry-on baggage." They also have a long list of exceptions. I took that first statement literally and ignored the rest of the information. Carry-on baggage really isn't monitored well, so make sure you bring a bag of snacks and drinks to eliminate (or cut) your cost of train purchases. Gas stations are not cheap, but trains are much worse! I tried to combine my purse, activity bag, and snack bag into one... Stressful! 

• Headphones are a must! Not only can they give you tunes to jam to (quietly by yourself), they block out annoying baby cries, obnoxious snoring, and occasional loud phone conversations that you really don't want to hear. 

• Bring a blanket. When we first boarded the train, I realized we were unaware of the unspoken rule that trains tend to be cold in temperature. It seemed like everyone had a blanket to wrap up in. Had it not been for the nice train lady, we would have been ice cycles by the time we arrived in California. Thank you, nice train lady!

• Let's face it, the pillows provided by the train people are less than adequate. Having no pillow will result in neck-aches. (I experienced that during the first 30 hours.) Bring a pillow. You'll thank yourself later. 

• A working foot rest on your train seat would be nice, especially if you have shorter legs (like I do). My wonderful husband offered to switch seats with me on the way to LA since my foot rest wasn't working properly.

I gotta say, riding on trains is a great way to travel from one place to another, but it's not 60 hours great. Any future train trips will last much less than a day!

Happy travels!