ROAD TRIP
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Travelling at busy holiday times is a mixture of people and emotions – some moving too fast, some wandering with no agenda or timeline, intersecting with homeward-bound folk who are comingling their no-agenda/no-rushing attitude with fast-lane-ones rushing to get home …
This is an intriguing thought bundle when juxtaposed against news reporting of airline gridlock, stranded passengers and luggage taking a different trip on a later flight to reunite somewhere with its owners. Nobody ends up happy in those situations.
As I drafted this yesterday before departing, I wondered what other travelers might have been thinking before leaving on their journeys. I doubt they expected inordinate delays, highway smashups or deaths, but when we turn on the TV, we see coverage of snowbound communities, highway wreckage and line-ups of cranky folks who can’t get back lost time or lost life, some far away and others close to home.
Yesterday’s road trip to Fort Saskatchewan was a snowy detour and a busy highway ride – a long day culminating in a family dinner and gift exchange. We departed much later than planned; I had a slow start. Eventually, we headed out on an alternate highway (21) to avoid congestion over a large crash-up the night before on the QEII.
Trips are tricky things – ones we take on purpose, ones we take by accident because we never know what they’ll be like or whether we’ll return on time or as planned. Our family get-together this year in Fort Saskatchewan – Carla and gang are having a stretched-out holiday – instead of one large food-fest collision of personalities, side-dishes, kids tearing wrapping paper, and itinerary conflicts; this year, sub-sets of the extended family having quality time with each other.
Whatever these days, times, and events hold for everyone, it is hard to think deeply when relaxed this much – but given the windup of one year will soon open the door for the next one of uncertainty and hope ahead, I’ll wish everyone a happy New Year’s weekend of safe travels, rest and readying ourselves for our next race around the calendar. I was watching a retrospective online on one of the streaming services about the famous folks who died in the last year; I was struck by how I viewed those because each one opened with the name of the person, what they were known for, and how old they were when they died.
I know I was noticing anxiously those who died at 71 or younger vs. those who died at 72 or older. In those moments, my thoughts were selfish, in recognizing there was not enough time to do everything I want to do next year, let alone in life …
For me to live the life I want, or would have preferred if there was a plan, is one in which there is no room for regret of anything, no value in second-guessing anything that has happened in my life or anyone around me from classmates, lovers, colleagues, friends, neighbours or family that I would take back because they form an integral part of my being me.
More than long life, we need good life – not only in health, but in quality of experience and in the ability to sit around relaxed, sipping coffee, reading papers, and having a great bowel movement without feeling we are missing out on important events or part of our day.
Just as everything any of us has experienced in our lives serves to frame our character, ambitions and demons, I wish nothing different.
I want only for a future mixed with expectations of accomplishments for my extended and blended family, my dear ones, my friends and colleagues and everyone who feels connected to us in some way – I wish you thrills, spills, chills, and long life.
Reader feedback:
Apparently fusion requires 109 million C degrees so, yeah, we may be waiting a while for a viable commercial application. I’m passionate about environmental stewardship but entirely a sceptic when it comes to the widely assumed climate emergency. In a northern climate, I’ll take my hybrid over electric any day, RH, Calgary, AB