Truck stop outside Amarillo... it’s 2 AM and I can’t sleep. Been sitting here in the cab, engine off, just staring out at the dark for what feels like hours. Another run done, another check wired... but it’s never enough, is it? Always another load, another deadline. My old man, he loved this life. Or at least he said he did. My grandpa before him, same thing. Always the road, always the smell of diesel. I remember my dad telling me, "Son, it’s in your blood." Like it was a given. Like I was *meant* to do this. And I guess I just... fell into it. Finished school, got my CDL, never really looked back. Always a job to be had, always a way to make a buck. No college debt, no big decisions... just the open road. Seemed like the easy way out at the time, or maybe the easy way *in* to something. Now I'm pushing 60, my back aches, my eyes aren't what they used to be... and I’m asking myself, was this a choice? Or just the path of least resistance? The other day, I was grabbing coffee at a diner, overheard some young fellas talking about starting their own business, inventing something. And I just... felt this pang. Like, what did *I* invent? What did *I* build that wasn’t just someone else’s freight? My whole life has been hauling other people’s stuff, other people’s dreams. Never my own. My grandkid, she's asking me about what I wanted to be when I grew up. And I didn't have an answer that felt real. Just, "A truck driver, like your great-grandpa." It felt hollow when I said it. Like I was lying to her, or worse, to myself. Anyone else feel this way? Like you just slid into a life, didn't really pick it? Like you woke up one day and realized you’d been driving someone else’s route for fifty years? No retirement plan, no benefits... just me and this rig, always looking for the next gig. This hustle culture... it's all I've ever known, I guess. It’s comforting in a way, the predictability of the unpredictable. But it’s also... lonely. And I just wonder, am I the only one who looks back and thinks, DID I REALLY CHOOSE THIS? Or was it just... handed to me? And I took it because it was there? Maybe I should've tried something else... anything else. But it's too late now, right? Right?