The Author's Corner: Last Train

It is late in the afternoon as I sit here at the train tracks waiting for the next train to come. Looking down the line, I see the light of an engine as it crosses this prairie landscape. I am taking back into the history of train travel and how it was a key to settling the west here in Canada.

At first glance, the train is getting closer as I can hear the horn and then the crossing gates come down. It is a grain train heading for the west coast. As I count the cars, I also time how long it takes to pass by. A hundred and twenty cars and just about four minutes.

I open the car door and step into the car as I flick my smoke butt onto the road as I leave to

head home. My life is like a train rolling along the tracks headed out into the universe. This life I have had up to this moment has not been an easy one. As of late, I have been medically retired because of schizophrenia, and my days are filled with writing and reading. I have to keep busy because if I do not, I will fall into a depression which could end in a stay at the hospital.

I take one more look down the line, almost like taking a view of where I am headed. I sit back in the driver's seat and start my trip home. It has been some time since I watched trains, however I needed time to think about what I am doing for my life.

This scene that I have given you all is something that brings peace to me. Everyone in the world has a track that they are following in their lives. It does not matter what way you are going through as you still have the ability to change you direction in your life.

In a way the choice you make today are the switches that change your speed and where your track will end. So many people feel that they are trapped in the situation they find themselves in. That is a false understanding because you can change your life at any time. If you have a spouse and kids, it is a little harder to make that change, however it can be done.

Change takes a simple step of making the decision to do so. Once that step is made, then is when you start to make the plans to do so.

With what I faced in September of 2020 was not a choice that I wanted to make. It was this, do I keep trying to work and end up in the hospital for possibly the rest of my life or do I cut my losses and retire. It was a hard choice to make, and it would take two months of falling into a depression before my mom would spark a light for me. What she did was to remind me of my dream of being an author to get me moving forward again in my life.

It took a few weeks to get started on this path and it was slow going as I had to get into a new routine. All in all, looking back on that time now I can see the track I am on has change and time has slowed for me. We all can make the changes when we need to, it just takes the choice to do it.

Stay safe.