FROZEN TUNDRA

Like a bear hibernating for the winter, much of the land in North American does the same. Covered under a blanket of white, it patiently waits for the first warmth of spring. It lies still as we pass by mile after mile of frozen white land which once , months before, had corn and wheat growing tall from its soil. The abandoned farms, and I close my eyes and listen carefully. I am certain I hear the dinner bell being rung, and the hard working, tired farmer, making his way towards the smells of supper waiting on the table. As we drive these lonely roads, I imagine the first settlers that made their way to undiscovered lands, how vast it must have looked, a clean canvas they could paint, with anticipation of what this land might mean to their future and the generations that would come after them.

This time of year, truck driving can be a bit like the frozen tundra we pass. We receive a dispatch, then head towards our destination as we anticipate our arrival and what lies ahead. But this trip, like many others, after our first drop we will have to sit and hibernate for a few days until the next one. Businesses don’t always have the same working days or hours as we do, and there are times we sit and watch, from our blanket of snow, as the world goes on without us.

We often find it hard to wait, like the Gypsies and settlers before us, the lure of the road, and what lies beyond the next curve is always beckoning us. Each new day is a clean canvas for us to paint and although we may drive the same roads, each day brings us something different to splash on that canvas. Right now, it’s the white landscape and the realization that the next time around it will have changed. As much as it looks still and white, there is life, hibernating just under the surface. Until that life surfaces again in the spring, the frozen tundra, the snow, the near zero temperatures, and wind will be our traveling companions.