A Work in Progress

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Two days before I left for vacation, I was on the phone making reservations for the Polar Express Train Ride .  What is that? Well, it's exactly what the name implies: a train ride based on the book The Polar Express , by Chris Van Allsburg. I'd say that I was only doing this for my children, but that wouldn't totally be accurate. Something with this much hype had to be good for me too. At least I hoped so.  The Polar Express Select cities all over America, and one in Canada, utilize trains (available from their railroad museums or railways) and transform them into replicas from the book -- complete with dancing waiters and hot chocolate. Passengers even get to wear their pajamas. While I’d heard that this was an extraordinary event, one my kids couldn’t miss, what I wasn’t prepared for was the mad dash --the absolute insane intensity-- that every parent in my city dove into on October first at 9 in the morning. It was like getting tickets for the concert of a