If life was easy to forecast, everything would be easy and curveballs and other calamities might be avoidable. But it isn’t, and sometimes we are pushed off the path into new, unfamiliar territory.
At the end of January, I had a major and catastrophic accident on the road, where my tractor and trailers bounced off the walls of a bridge because potholes caused me to have a blowout. I walked away without a scratch, thanked God, and a couple of days later, I went on a tropical vacation where I got my mind and confidence back on track.
When I did my yearly review in December, I also wrote down my goals and plans for every part of my life. I made my financial plans, my budgets, and my vacations based around my job as a nighttime line haul truck driver for the company I’ve worked for since 1999.
I typed out the writing and creative goals, as far as book releases, audiobook creation,
conferences, collaborations, and a couple of new endeavors. I was prepared for this season of my life.
There’s a saying that goes “Man plans and God laughs.” I have a complete understanding of that as my carefully planned journey has now went asked, leaving me to follow another route.
Last Tuesday morning around 1:40 A.M., I was heading north on I-57 in heavy thunderstorms and powerful winds. Visibility was horrible and I reduced my speed and put on my four-way flashers. A truck blew past me, spray made the highway invisible, back box touched the grass as I fought the wheel and I had another major accident.
Emergency workers, ambulance, ER, and the reality that I had just walked away from a
catastrophe without much physical harm. My arm and shoulder are sore from the seat belt, and physically, I’m fine. Mentally and spiritually? Not even close.
In baseball, three strikes and you’re out. Three outs and the inning is over. Two horrible events and I cannot endure a third. Maybe God is trying to tell me something. I’m listening.
Financially, things will be a little tight as I adjust to working a day-time schedule. It was the backup option to completely quitting my quarter of a century as a truck driver. Other things that had been planned are up in the air or put back in the file to hopefully implemented next year.
I can’t go to the Western Writers of America conference in Tulsa. I have other things I have to place precedence upon, and my earnings just took a serious setback. I have to do what’s necessary. Yeah, I’m a bit bummed.
This season so far has been a reminder to smell the roses, give love to my people, smile when I see couples holding hands, enjoy the randomness of road trips, and bask in the wonder of simply being here to enjoy everything.
Because He let me walk away from two events which could have ended it all. It’s been a hell of an adventure as a truck driver on the highways and byways of America, but just as with everything else, all things conclude. I’ll still drive, just not at night on the highways. That chapter is over.
But, there’s always a silver lining. I will be able to do life activities every evening if I’d like, instead of cramming everything into forty-eight hours on the weekend, which wears me out. I’m looking forward to the new possibilities.
