Happy New Year, y’all! Yep, you guessed it. I’m from the South, and I have the accent to prove it. When I open my mouth to talk, I pretty much sound like cornbread (if cornbread could talk). Hopefully, most people like cornbread! But I digress. I’m here to share my thoughts as we wrap up the first workweek of 2024.
On New Year’s Eve, my husband and I gathered with a few friends to celebrate surviving another revolution around the sun. Unfortunately, none of us are as young as we used to be, and I don’t think anyone made it to midnight before heading home to bed. Actually, looking back at some of my New Year’s Eve shenanigans during my younger years, it’s probably a good thing I don’t have the energy to stay up all night these days.
New Year’s Day was spent catching up on chores at home — you know, exciting things like laundry, washing dishes, sweeping and (my personal favorite) scooping the kitty litter pan. Fun times!
The evening was much more enjoyable, sharing dinner with our youngest son and his wife, enjoying an “adult beverage” or two and a hotly debated game of Monopoly that lasted until nearly (but not quite) midnight. Let’s just say my family gets very creative when it comes to wheeling and dealing to stay in the game.
During the first workweek of the new year, I’ve seen the usual round of “year in review” news stories from various media outlets. The war between Russia and Ukraine continued throughout the year, along with numerous other memorable events — Chinese spy balloons drifting across the U.S. to a search for a missing mini-submarine, wildfires in Hawaii, auto workers’ striking, the start of the Israel-Hamas war and more.
Of course, many in the trucking industry (along with the rest of the nation) watched the slow, painful demise of Yellow Corp., highlighted by union workers’ strikes and a volley of insults hurled back and forth between the freight giant and the Teamsters Union.
There’s an old curse, popularly attributed to the ancient Chinese, that says, “May you live in interesting times.” On the surface, it doesn’t really sound like a curse … until you look back at the “interesting times” of the past few years.
Here’s to better — maybe even “boring” — times ahead. However, with a hotly debated presidential election as well as a number of other key political races, I have a feeling 2024 will be another year for the record books.
Through it all, The Trucker team is here to provide news relevant to all levels of the trucking industry. In addition to our main news website, you can follow us on most social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X (it’ll always be “Twitter” to me!), TikTok and more.
I wish you all blessings, joy, peace and prosperity in the coming year.
Don’t be a stranger! Feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] and let me know what issues are important to you, as well as any features you’d like to see incorporated into The Trucker website.
Linda Garner-Bunch has been in publishing for more than 30 years. You name it, Linda has written about it. She has served as an editor for a group of national do-it-yourself publications and has coordinated the real estate section of Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper, in addition to working on a variety of niche publications ranging from bridal magazines to high-school sports previews and everything in between. She is also an experienced photographer and copy editor who enjoys telling the stories of the “Knights of the Highway,” as she calls our nation’s truck drivers.
