Springtime in Colorado
Yesterday was a typical spring day in Colorado. Blustery snow in the morning; sunshine by noon; clouds moving in by 3:00; and then 2-5 inches of snow by bed time. We woke up this morning to this:
It’s a very heavy snow too, not the light powdery stuff that comes in winter!
Last night, when it took twice as long to make a routine trip, I was reminded of how much business is like spring in Colorado. You can wake up to beautiful skies and warm temperatures, and then within hours, temperatures can drop 30-40 degrees and all life can be completely engulfed in a blizzard.
During those times of blue skies and warm sunshine, we push down on the accelerator and get as far as we can as fast we can! We feel safe, with dry roads and clear visibility. When we get tired, we put the top down, turn the radio up, and drive even faster, letting the rush of the air and the noise of the juke box keep us awake! And every now and then we stop for gas, check the gauges and the fluid levels, and get back on that fast moving highway as quickly as possible to get as far as we can on any particular trip we are taking.
But when the weather sets in, we slow down, we put both hands back on the wheel, and we focus on the road ahead of us and the drivers in the vehicles all around us. We quit drinking that Starbucks and eating those snacks, because we don’t want to risk any distractions that could potentially put us in a perilous spin down the road. We also turn the radio down and keep the windows rolled up, minimizing the noise so we’re listening to both the performance of the car and any unexpected noise from those around us. Every now and then we try to find a weather & traffic station to get an update, but we don’t leave the volume up because the background filler around the weather and traffic becomes completely irrelevant to the focus we need on the road. In the worst of conditions, we snuggle up close to a snow plow and make sure we sit tight in the comfort of the clean roads in his wake. Or, if it’s too early for plows on the roads, we put our tires in the chain chopped tracks from the 18 wheelers to find some traction and security in the otherwise very dangerous drive.
I personally like the big skies and unimpeded roads! But there’s something special about making a perilous trek and bringing any precious cargo through it safely!