The Ones Who Go Before

It's early in the morning, about 5:30 AM. It's dark; as you look outside at your neighborhood, you can't help but notice the billowing snow cresting over the roofs of homes and buildings. Snow has drifted over the sidewalks, and it isn't easy to see where the road starts and meets the boundaries of the walks. You reach for your phone, and as you bring it to your face, it reads the temperature is around -31°. With the wind chill, the temperature sinks to -40°. It's still about three and half hours before the sun rises, but you have to get ready for work—your shift at 7:00 AM. For you to get to work, you'll need to catch the bus.

The actual screen that many Albertan’s see during the winter months.

An hour later, you're at your bus stop. You're dressed for the cold, but at -40°, you'll only have a few minutes before the cold succeeds at penetrating your many layers of clothing. While you're standing alone in the dark, your only thoughts are of escaping these arctic conditions. The blowing snow drowns out most of the light from the homes, leaving you only with a few beams of light from the streetlamps. You look down the road and see two headlights emerging from the dark. It's your bus. A moment later, the bus stops in front of you, and the driver opens the door, and you jump in and escape the cold. Inside the well-lit bus, you sit down beside dozens of other travelers. You are not alone. The next part of your commute to work is a lot easier because you're with others.

I appreciate the bus driver. Their morning started two hours earlier. Anyone who goes before everyone else at -40° has the most challenging job—doing hard things so that the next person doesn't have to do things alone. So appreciate the bus driver- or anyone else you know that goes before everyone else.