Heyo,
My name is Matt Elswick. I
usually go by Matt or Elswick, if there are too many other Matts. Having a
common first name is dumb. I spent four years in the military as a nuclear
electronics technician. I have worked in and around a couple seagoing nuclear
power plants. It was okay. My hobbies fall into usual nerd categories. I run
RPG games. I play board and card games. I participate in something called
Amtgard in Dublin. I can build bows and crossbows. Sometimes I get crafty and
build other stuff. I’m really good at being bad at learning guitar. I don’t
really work right now. I got pretty burnt out in technician and service work. After
the military I worked on overhead cranes for a bit doing electrical and
mechanical service. I got over my fear of heights fairly quickly in that line
of work. I have a wife and child. The boy is four and is kind of a pain right
now.
The fact that hobos took significant pride in what they did stood out to me the most. In Graham's profile what he described sounded almost like some sort of secret society. They had a certain honor about their business. The hobos also used secret signals too keep everyone else safe and informed.
What stuck out the most as I was reading was that Maury Graham's wife took him back after he disappeared for ten years (NY Times). It was surprising that she didn't move on after that. She still bought him dinner when he came home. She sounds like a nice lady. It would have been interesting to see more of the culture or tall tales that several of the articles mentioned in passing.
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| Wearing a top hat at a Sticky Fingers in Charleston, SC |
The fact that hobos took significant pride in what they did stood out to me the most. In Graham's profile what he described sounded almost like some sort of secret society. They had a certain honor about their business. The hobos also used secret signals too keep everyone else safe and informed.
What stuck out the most as I was reading was that Maury Graham's wife took him back after he disappeared for ten years (NY Times). It was surprising that she didn't move on after that. She still bought him dinner when he came home. She sounds like a nice lady. It would have been interesting to see more of the culture or tall tales that several of the articles mentioned in passing.
It is pretty crazy that his wife took him back. That's a long time. But i suppose time were different then.
ReplyDeleteI agree that is is amazing that after so much time apart that they can go back to having a normal life together. This makes me wonder how many couples this happens to while living as a hobo, especially since trains have been upgraded from steam to diesel engines. I imagine there are many ways to become separated when traveling in groups making it harder to be with those we care about.
ReplyDeleteI think it takes some real dedication in order to still want to be with someone after all all that. Most people definitely would have been like "oh, he's probably dead," or even "you left me here to clean the house while you go endangering your-self on a train? Don't you dare step back into this house!"
DeleteIt's almost like a fairy tale. It's such a happy ending! More or less.