This is about fellowship in a big orange truck.
Six days a week, Monday through Saturday, I attend a meeting of my AA group which starts at 7:30 a.m. To get there I always drive the same route : down Jackson Street past the post office, then turn left at the traffic light onto Dunlawton Avenue.
A few months ago, when Central Florida had so much damage during the hurricane season, the parking lot of our USPS was being used by a fleet of trucks belonging to a large national company that specializes in tree trimming and removal where storm damage has affected power lines. The fleet of approximately 30 trucks had been brought to our community by their regular crews, but were being driven by local men who knew their way around town. These vehicles are large-bodied dump trucks, equipped with cranes and picker baskets. They are all painted bright orange.
One morning, on the way to my daily meeting, I was waiting at the traffic light behind one of these orange trucks. The driver got out of the cab, descended to the ground, and waved at me. Recognizing a fellow AA member, John A., I waved back.
A few weeks later I saw John at a meeting. He told me he had been working double shifts, 65 to 75 hours a week, and “I don’t have much time to attend a lot of meetings. Every morning I watch for your car at that corner because it is a good way to start my day, seeing another AA member like that.”
Since then I've remembered what John said whenever I see one of the orange trucks.
Most of the storm damage has been repaired now, and many of the trucks have left town. But yesterday morning, at that corner, there was an orange truck in front of me, waiting at the light. It made a left-hand turn onto Dunlawton, just like I was doing. I got into the lane next to it and looked up at the cab, hoping John was the driver and I could wave to him.
It wasn’t John so I accelerated, feeling a bit foolish. As I pulled ahead of the orange truck I thought, “No, I’m not being foolish; that’s the Fellowship in action.”