Trusting The Journey: Two Train Trips, 73 Years Apart

On January 20, 1953, a twenty-one year old woman from Johannesburg, South Africa arrived in New York City on a mild winter day, the same day that Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ike, was inaugurated as the 34th president of the United States. 

The young woman had travel across the world by boats, two boats, to be exact. One from South Africa to Southampton, England, and then a second, the Queen Mary. She stayed in NYC for a few weeks, then stepped aboard two trains that delivered her to Los Angeles, California, to begin her career as the ingenue (starring opposite an unknown Leonard Nimoy) in a Yiddish-speaking play. 

On September 27, 2026, a sixty-seven year old woman will fly to New York City where, the next morning, she will board the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, then the Southwest Super Chief to Los Angeles. The purpose of her trip? To reconnect with her latent adventure-seeking self, and to write her way across America.  

What do these two women have in common?

They are mother and daughter. The twenty-one year old was my mother, Joyce Trank (Abramoff) before she was a wife or mother. When she was just a wide eyed young woman starting a new life in this country. She passed away on September 26, 2024 at the age of 93 years old. 

I'm the sixty-seven year old woman, who after 26 years of parenting, marriage (32 years and still going strong), and caring for my mother, is unfolding into a new stage of life. 

In 2025, a career I loved and took my pride in unexpectedly ended. I was unsure of what my next step and very realistic about the challenges of finding meaningful work as a woman in my season of life. I turned to the AARP website. While researching resources, I started reading stories about remarkable journeys for people my age and older. The organization behind these adventures? Wish of a Lifetime® from AARP whose mission is to "spark hope and joy in the hearts of older adults by fulfilling their dreams through personalized experiences that promote healthy and purposeful aging." 

I read on to discover that they were accepting applications to grant the next round of wishes. 

Sometimes life has a way of leading you down a path you didn’t even know existed. I submitted my application. 

My wish was granted.

Thanks to the generous support of the amazing folks at Wish of a Lifetime® from AARP and Amtrak, over the next week, I'll be recreating my mother's journey while having an adventure very much my own. I will write, explore, meet new people, and experience our country with not only my own eyes, but how I imagine my mother must have seen and experienced it. 

I'll be documenting the trip, from my launch in NYC on the Lake Shore Limited, to boarding the Southwest Chief at Union Station in Chicago, to arriving in downtown Los Angeles at the historic Union Station, just as my dear mom did 73 years ago.  

Toward the end of my mom's life, we talked quite a bit about this adventure. As she reminisced, I asked her if she was scared, traveling alone as a young woman in 1953. Her response?

"It was scary, but I wasn't scared. I trusted the journey." 

​As I'm about to embark on this remarkable adventure, am I scared, traveling alone at this stage of my life? A little. Okay, maybe more than a little. 

​But like my mom, I plan on trusting the journey.

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