Excalibur
How did what happened change your life, at home and at work?
After being hit head on we went thru the particulars road side with witnesses and highway patrol. It didn’t hit me till I was in the ambulance being transported 45 miles. 24 years old, 1 son, another on the way and this dream I’m chasing almost orphaned them. I swore I was done trucking. But now what? Its all my family has ever done. 4 generations.
6 months of needing help buttoning shirts and cutting my food and not being “useful” financially really showed the colors of those around me. You really figure out who is in for the long haul. Thankfully my wife was in it, still is. Our circle remains small 5 years later.
Trucking gets to you though. 6 months of sitting still bout drove me out of my mind and before I knew it we had bought another, doctor gave me the green light and I was back at it. Swerving for the ditch any time a car got close to the center line. That’s gotten better with time but the vibrations of the truck still affect my hand, cold weather makes it feel like somebody has it in a vise. But, the load has to go!!
I look at this picture and see the days laid out and planned like we control it, knowing full well we don’t. I don’t do anything with the truck anymore unless it somehow justifies being gone, seems someone is always willing to pay the bill though! I see the scribblings of our 4 boys, pages covered in trucks and I hope like hell they lose the infatuation with them and choose something else as a career. 4 generations and 10 years myself and a love for the idea of freedom we have is tough to get away from.
“See the days laid out and planned like we control it, knowing full well we don’t”…man that line sunk in for me. So true.
As you say, we don’t control what happens next. So where and how did you find motivation and will to get back into the truck after an event that hurt you, body and mind?
Honestly, I think it was little more than an overwhelming sense of responsibility. I had mouths to feed and I was not going to fail them come hell or high water. Most days they are my only source of motivation. Which is interesting because I work to provide for them and yet this line of work takes me away from them for extended periods of time. Quite the catch 22