Loops, Landlords, and Livingston

Somewhere just outside Livingston, Texas, the heat shimmered off the asphalt like it was trying to erase the line between reality and memory. I sat behind the wheel of my Jeep Gladiator, an orange beast that’s seen both dirt roads and hard truths. The road split ahead with two lefts, one to loop under the highway and another to carry on forward. A simple sign stood there, directing traffic like some prophet of practicality. This is a U-turn. This goes straight.

I wasn’t just driving. I was delivering an eviction notice to a tenant who hadn’t paid rent in months. Paperwork stuffed in the center console. My name at the bottom of a document that says “you gotta go.” It wasn’t easy, but this wasn’t a game. Bills don’t pay themselves, and being the landlord means sometimes you’re the villain in someone else’s story. But that doesn’t make you heartless… just responsible.

As I sat at the light, I stared at the split in the road like it was asking me something deeper. U-turn or straight. Loop back or move on. How many people are sitting at this exact same fork, not in Livingston but in life? Some folks get stuck in the loop, habits, places, people. They make the same U-turn over and over, wondering why they never really get anywhere. Others press forward, sometimes blindly, sometimes boldly, into something new.

That sign doesn’t ask why. It just tells you where you’re allowed to go. But life? Life asks why all the time.

Why did I choose to own property?

Why did I let this tenant stay two months longer than the lease said I should?

Why do I feel like I’m the one being evicted from peace every time I have to enforce the rules?

I looked at the inspection sticker on my windshield. October 2025. A small reminder that time is always moving forward, whether we are or not. That sticker won’t wait. Neither will the future. And neither should I.

I made the left turn to go straight. Sometimes, the responsible thing is also the uncomfortable thing. Sometimes growth comes while wearing dirty leather cowboy boots and a clipboard.

Livingston isn’t much of a town to most folks. But today, it held up a mirror. And all it showed was a man in an orange Jeep, trying to do right by what he built, even when it felt wrong.

Because maybe life isn’t about U-turns or driving straight. Maybe it’s about owning the road, no matter which way it bends.

Forever a draft & with love,

Jesse E. Cano, Jr