The road not taken
June, 2010
Steve Dorran, our cover story, is a man I've known since 1982. Steve has integrity, experience and walks the line with cattlemen of all classes. Steve's photos were taken at LLB Angus, thanks to Lee and Laura Brown. Steve works with style. He's as good as the best out there, including Sonny Booth.
Whenever I hit the road to a sale, to write a cover story, or out doing photography, I always think about other roads I may have taken. And I wonder how my life might have taken on a different form had I known what lay ahead of me 20 years ago. Garth and I started Alberta Beef in 1991 (with the help of many people like Dave McNally, Bob Dyck, George Koza and Majestic Ranches: to name but a few allies).
Had I known what good times and yet heart ache would lie ahead in 2002, 2003 and 2009 perhaps I would have chose a fate worse than this one; or perhaps a better one. But we cannot look too far back over our shoulders, it can strain the neck. Like a minister to his congregation; a shepherd to his flock or a mother goose to her goslings, ABM was my calling. So I answered the call of the land, the open road, the people, the little one horse towns and the lure of the fall run. The appeal of the great characters in our industry. I have spent most of my life in rural Alberta with elevators and fields full of barley in my rear view mirror since I started driving gravel roads in 1957. Home is where the heart is.
ABM was about harvests, good calves. Cheese burgers and coffee in November at Provost Auction. It was meeting men like Bill Sturm at Cereal and hearing first hand how that little market was built: and the blood, sweat, toil and trust that made things work.
Now after 20 years of triumph and tragedy I look upon my back pages: Doc Seaman, Frank Gattey and Archie Tateson are there. And I note that there's another mountain ahead of me to climb. Like all of you, new challenges have come and while there are even steeper slopes ahead to climb I do not climb them alone. All our questions will be answered at the end of the long dark roads ahead.
Robert Frost wrote the poem, "In A Snowy Wood" and he talked about the road not taken as he paused and watched the snow fall one night on the road. And I have stood on river bank hills at dusk as geese flew south o'erhead in October and listened to the little breezes that lifted up off the valley floors and rustled the leaves at my side. And I too have thought about the road not taken and thought "I too have miles to go before I sleep. And promises to keep, to keep." And that's about all I have to say about that. |
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