I've loved trains ever since I was a little boy. Fifteen years ago, when I was fifteen or sixteen, I was a part of a model train club one town over from me. Last night I was thinking about it for some reason and I decided to Google them, to see if they were even still around. As it turns out, they are! And they're still in the same building they were all those years ago. I've fallen into a deep depression in the last six months, and I'm trying to expose myself to the world more and more at the behest of my therapist. What does anyone here think? Should I drop in on my old model train club and see what they've been up to for the last fifteen years? I used to go every week. I never got much done there, I had a table I was working on that was part of the model train set that circled the large room where it all took place but a lot of my time spent there was talking to the other members and often staring out the window at dusk, looking over the town. But I remember it pretty fondly. Should I go back?
I think you absolutely should! I've been working on a layout for about 5 years now, more slowly than I really should, and when I run it, it's always soothing to see the trains make their peaceful little way along the tracks. To me, it's almost like having a pet and a hobby rolled into one.
The only thing is, it's meant for teenagers. As an adult I can sign up as an "advisor," but I don't know much about model trains. I didn't when I went fifteen years ago and I don't know much about them now. But I do know that adults go there. Heck, the same guy who was running it back in 2004 is still running it now according to the Facebook page they have. They're a subsection of the Boy Scouts, or I guess they're just the "Scouts" now since they let girls join now. But I guess I can drop in any time, really. They meet on Thursdays from seven to nine.
I think you should go, it is something you really enjoyed and even grown up you can still enjoy model trains.
I'd say sign up as an advisor. If you wanted to, you could contact the person you already know from the time you attended. Even though things might have changed a bit, and you are unsure as to what your knowledge is at the moment, it doesn't matter. Whatever knowlede you would be required to have to be an advisor, I am sure you'd be able to gain it pretty quickly.
Yeah, I guess that's what I'll do if I go back. I just have to find a way over there. I'm 31 and I never learned how to drive a car. I used to just go with my Dad, who'd drive me there. But I have severe anxiety and am unsure if I should be behind the wheel of a car because I often think that if I were I'd crash because I'm just so nervous.
Is there someone who could give you a ride, or you could go with to the meetings? Is there any public transportation?
Yeah, there's people who can give me a ride. Multiple people, actually. As far as public transportation goes, I don't think I could get to this place via the bus because it's in the middle of suburbia. It's a municipal building in the center of suburbia and the nearest bus stop is a long walk away and the buses' schedules at night get a little wonky.
Great that there are people who could give you a ride. How would you feel about reaching out to one or two of them to see when they are going next and perhaps join them then, if you feel ready for it?
I'm going to do that today. Or at least talk about it to someone who's been trying to get me involved in the community and I think they might think this would be a great way for me to do that.
Unfortunately the person I was going to talk about it to today had to cancel on me because she got some sort of tooth infection or something. I'd call my Dad about it but he's a little on the strange side and he lives about fifteen miles away and is currently unemployed and trying to find a job. I'll just have to wait until my peer feels better. I'd ask my brother about it, but he just woke up and is a bear in the morning if he wakes up before noon and will lash out in anger at anyone who tries to talk to him before he gets his six cups of coffee in him. I don't really think my brother is the best person to ask about it because he's not the most social person in the world and he already drives me to and from all of my appointments and hates that he has to do that already. I want to learn how to drive but I don't have the money to keep throwing away on the written test which I've already failed once and my brother took more than a dozen times to pass the written test (it only took him two times to pass the actual driver's test, but that written test, he must have spent more than 300 dollars on taking it over and over again and it costs 35 dollars to take and you have to pay by check).
