A Night To Remember

It was a dark and stormy night. A sentence far too cliched, over used and with images of Charley Brown rather than a memorable night.  However, it definitely was a night that I have never forgotten.

Thirty-nine, confident and driving a brand new Dodge Colt, the home of my new employer beckoned. Hired over the phone in April at St. Mary of the Plains Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, my adventure began by going to see where my home would be in October of that same year. In May, my long drive from Regina, Saskatchewan began. First it was to Grand Junction, Colorado to visit my uncle and aunt, and then on to Lubbock, Texas, Buddy Holly's hometown.

  

Setting off bright and early on a clear, sunny and calm morning for an interesting 740 mi (1200 Km) trip, my shiny blue car and it's owner was ready for the long drive through unfamiliar country into amazing, tree covered mountains from far southern Colorado and into New Mexico. Coming down from Raton, New Mexico, on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into the Llano Estacado, the horizon was troubled by fat, white clouds edged in grey. Not a problem. 

Frequent breaks refreshed my chariot and it's driver. Clouds continued to gather ominously much more quickly than anticipated.

Then it started to rain - big fat drops flattened onto my new windshield. Evergreens and spring green trees were bending in a increasingly energetic wind.  

No matter. Now only about two or three hours out of Lubbock, according to my directions, I were almost there. The highway was broad and flat. There was no traffic.

Thunder clouds came in faster. The night grew darker. The wind grew stronger. The darkness should not have been upon me yet, but it had arrived fiercely - a not so gentle reminder that I shouldn’t ‘mess with Texas.”   

My dad did teach me, that in a storm, get off the road and get shelter till the storm passes. Where to go? This was an Interstate highway! Divided. The highway sign for Happy, Texas welcomed me so pulling off the interstate, I carefully drove down the main street: of a closed up town. Rolled up. Quiet. Dark.

Back on the highway, now slick with a half inch of water, a wind that rocked my little car. The storm threatened to push me off into the Texas plain. Fear tightened around my heart.

There is no memory of tears stinging my eyes, only fierce determination to get to Lubbock, Tx and safety. Praying desperately, my hands gripping the steering wheel, I just kept driving. A safe arrival in Lubbock, a good nights sleep and waking to a beautiful sunny day welcomed me to Lubbock, sprawled on the Texas plain, drying in the sun.  

The year was 1988 -  before the security of cell phones. Unaware that the last leg of my trip would take me through 'tornado alley', money for a car radio had not been in my budget. 

"Determination gives you the resolve to keep going 

in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you."

~ Denis Waitley