One of those "TWILIGHT ZONE" moments ...

Vince

A coincidence? 

Or something special?

My brother, Vince Travers, passed away on New Year's Day, 2018.
He was the second oldest of our family of 10. 

I was #10 and there was a 20-year difference between him and me.

We had his funeral today.
It was really more of a celebration of his life rather than a memorial.

He had a terrific life. 

Great wife for 62 years, great kids & grandkids.

All good.

During Vince's eulogy, his daughter, Anne Marie, mentioned that late last night, she and her husband woke to the sound of a ringing noise. When they investigated, they found it was coming from a CN Railroad clock. The item was given to Vince to commemorate his

25th anniversary of working for the railroad line. They didn't know the clock had an alarm - it had never rung before. She joked that her father was making sure she got up in time for his funeral.

Timing is a big deal in the railroad business.

Vince spent more than 40 years as a conductor for Canadian National Railroad (CN) - 10,000 kilometres a month - never late. 

Following the ceremony at the church, we moved to the cemetery. I was surprised, given the -20 degrees C temperatures that an actual burial was possible.

We were held up at the cemetery gates while the funeral people processed the paperwork with the office - it seemed to take an unusually long time. We moved to the burial site which was at the very back of the property near a fence - it was brutally cold.

The funeral home man explained that due to the weather, mourners could stay at the grave site to watch the coffin lowered into the grave or go to their cars and watch from there. I chose the latter.

While my brother's coffin was being lowered and I was sitting in the warmth of my car with the blower set at 10, I noticed something moving - behind the bushes - behind the grave site, behind the fence. 

At that precise moment, a CN train moved past my brother's grave site very, very slowly on the other side of the fence. 

The signage on each train car read … CN CN CN CN

The people I spoke to didn't even know there was a train track at the back of the fence.

Perhaps the arrival of the train at that precise moment was a salute to my brother and his 40+ years of service to travellers.

Or, maybe it was a subtle reminder to the rest of us. 
The motto of the railroad is ... 

any time is train time.

Maybe the message is ... use your time wisely.