I want to remember how I felt today.
That's mainly what I'm thinking. Standing in the back yard with my old cob pipe, kissing the Capstan Blue with the lighter's flame, and watching the smoke curl up against the twilight sky. Not despair, or even sadness. Just...tension.
Waiting.
I had gone part-time by September, spending my days jamming gears in CDL school, and my evenings at the foundry; pouring molten iron, swinging sledge hammers, and grinding parts. When the news broke that they were shutting down second shift, they told us we could all go to first. But 'first' for me is my future, and right now that's trucking. In a few weeks I'll be training for life over-the-road, and I don't know yet how I'll pay next month's rent, but I'll pay it. I always find a way.
I want to remember what it feels like today, jobless and in debt. I want to remember because I know that this too shall pass. That in two years, or five, I'll look back and smile. I know that I'll be debt free with cash in the bank, and I know that when the next thing comes I'll be ready for that, too.
I'll be waiting for it.
Waiting, with my old cob pipe, my capstan blue, and the simple dignity of a working man.
That's mainly what I'm thinking. Standing in the back yard with my old cob pipe, kissing the Capstan Blue with the lighter's flame, and watching the smoke curl up against the twilight sky. Not despair, or even sadness. Just...tension.
Waiting.
I had gone part-time by September, spending my days jamming gears in CDL school, and my evenings at the foundry; pouring molten iron, swinging sledge hammers, and grinding parts. When the news broke that they were shutting down second shift, they told us we could all go to first. But 'first' for me is my future, and right now that's trucking. In a few weeks I'll be training for life over-the-road, and I don't know yet how I'll pay next month's rent, but I'll pay it. I always find a way.
I want to remember what it feels like today, jobless and in debt. I want to remember because I know that this too shall pass. That in two years, or five, I'll look back and smile. I know that I'll be debt free with cash in the bank, and I know that when the next thing comes I'll be ready for that, too.
I'll be waiting for it.
Waiting, with my old cob pipe, my capstan blue, and the simple dignity of a working man.
I whiles claw the elbow o' troublesome thought;
But Man is a soger, and Life is a faught;
My mirth and gude humour are coin in my pouch,
And my Freedom's my Lairdship nae monarch dare touch.
-Robert Burns