Running on Empty

I think that sometimes when you wake up in the morning and hear that first song on the radio or player in your car or home seems to set the mood for the day. That can sometimes be both a blessing and an omen for things to come as music has many meanings and can bring forth several depending on when you might hear it or what happens to you in the short term.

Today carried with it a little of both as I jumped into my rig (Alaskan for truck) and headed off to work. Within about ten seconds Jackson Brown’s Running on Empty came on the radio.

I smiled thinking about my youth and the excitement from seeing a JB concert live and up close. I have always enjoyed the excitement that the song seemed to bring out in many people. It had enthusiasm and made you tap a toe or get into a rhythm. Another smile came to me.

Running on Empty

I listened as I made my way to the freeway and just let the music embrace my soul and give me that lift needed to start the day. All felt great and the next couple of songs on the radio carried my mood forward as I arrived at my office.

As I walk into the office the phone is ringing a not too unusual thing lately. I hit the ground running going through the various tasks for this day. Order this part, schedule a move for a couple of my crew from one project to another, and continue to work through a mound of paperwork on my desk.

A few meetings with vendors, more phone calls from crew, suppliers, and contractors and my upbeat morning song had slowly changed more into it’s title as the day wore on.

Five PM had come and gone and I was back at the office preparing a small cargo shipment for my Sitka project. A trip to the airport to Alaska Air Cargo’s operation shipping and receiving where I found quiet a few people in line shipping salmon to places unknown and I knew I was in for a long wait. I received a phone call that more items were needed so I was able to not stand any longer in line and head home.

The last song on the radio before I turned my rig off was James Taylor’s ‘Carolina in my Mind’. A welcome escape after another long day as a storm was brewing over the mountains just past my house. A little while later there was a very bright strong rainbow reaching up into the sky and making almost a full arc from one side to the other.

And then it was gone.

Ice