While we're indulging full-blown nostalgia this week, one thing that's been scorched in my brain for nearly 30 years is the Metra "The Way to Really Fly" campaign -- not for the jingle, but for the one line:
"... while the kids enjoy an exciting train ride!"
My brother and I would -- and still do -- refer to every Metra ride as "exciting," first out of teenaged sarcasm, and then out of habit. When I mentioned that my wife and I were going take our transportation-obsessed 3-year-old downtown and back on Christmas Eve morning for his first train ride, he said something along the lines of, "I hear it'll be exciting."
The joke was on us, because Mini Margalus had his face glued to the window all the way to Union Station and back, pointing out all the lights and gates and trains and people and baseball fields and dugouts along the way. Had we known the payoff would've been so great, that could've been the only Christmas gift he needed, although he's enjoying the garbage truck quite a bit, too.
At any rate, I hope your holidays -- Christmas, Hanukkah, or just the end-of-year break -- are equally fulfilling. I also hope this greeting cleared the bar Bob Nightengale set late last night:
Merry Christmas! Today would have been Rickey Henderson’s 66th Birthday!
— Bob Nightengale (@bnightengale.bsky.social) 2024-12-25T05:19:01.223Z
