I had left late - there were just so many last minute things I wanted to get done before leaving. I got most of them done, but it was also pushing 8 PM by the time I pulled out of the driveway. It was going to be a long drive but I wanted to get there as close to midnight as possible. At this rate, I would probably pull in closer to 1 AM than midnight!
It was Christmas and I had decided at the last minute to drive to a friend's place in another province to spend the holiday with her and her family.
Christmas was one of those holidays for me that was bittersweet ... it never quite was what I dreamed it could be. Yes, to a great deal, that was due to the poverty I grew up in. You can't create a lavish holiday when there's barely enough money to put a meal on the table. I thought back and through all of this as I drove through the countryside towards my destination. I didn't remember any gifts I had received over the years, but I did remember a few Christmases where my mother sure complained about the gifts she received. I remember making my mother gifts but I don't ever remember her using them. The good memories I have are of going to church on Christmas Eve ... the peaceful and beautiful moments when the room hushed and sang "Silent Night" a capella while lighting candles. I remember joining friends for Christmas Day meals, I remember driving to my grandparents for the season. Those were good memories.
Since growing up, I don't remember any Christmas that ever measured up to what I dreamed. The one that came closest was the last Christmas I spent with my brother, his family and my father. And since then ... well ... yeah. I still love the season but ... what can I say? Spending this time alone makes one think odd thoughts. Spending that day alone makes one really look at what is this day, this time really about? about for me?
All these thoughts and more continued to spin through my head as I drove through the darkness. The road was pretty much straight .. straight through a vast emptiness of prairie ... that it was easy to get lost in my own thoughts.
Somehow, gradually, a fog began to roll in ... it must have started very faint, little wisps dusting across the road. It wasn't until it was thick enough to affect my distance vision that I realized the weather had changed. If it was possible to be snowing at the same time, I was convinced that it was snowing, too. I instantly banished the trip down memory lane and turned my attention to the road. It wasn't slippery, I didn't think, but the fog was increasing with each kilometer I was traveling.
Yes, there was snow ... I had to turn my windshield wipers on to keep the snow from accumulating on the windshield but that didn't help the fog that was almost thick as pea soup around my car. Slowing down, I was starting to get a bit nervous. It was not getting better.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, there appeared a huge shipping truck in front of me, sideways, stopped in the middle of the highway. I gasped and put pressure on the break ... more more ... I felt my neck muscles tense up as I pushed the break as hard as I could .... and I stopped with inches to spare before hitting the truck. I backed up, put my hazard lights on and pulled to the side of the road. The fog was so thick that I had to get out of the car to check each side. There was no way around on either side. On my way past the truck cab, I checked inside. It was empty. Strange.
Climbing back into my car, I sat for a minute or two, contemplating my options. I seemed to remember a road off to the right a short distance back. Maybe if I back up slowly with my hazard lights on, I can both find the road and avoid on-coming traffic.
It was probably less than a kilometer back and I found the turn off. I made the turn and paused. The road was barely a road and the snow and fog made it impossible to see anywhere except the road in front of me. Barely a path, but it was open for travel. I figured I'd drive and turn towards the direction I was initially traveling, then turn back towards the highway. Country roads usually were in squares so it shouldn't be hard to detour and make a return to the highway beyond the shipping truck blockade. I began inching forward.
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