Not So Bad

by Melisa
(Sandusky Oh)

My fiance recently went into trucking. It was something he had always automatically said no to every time it would come up. I asked him again a few months ago, and he went to an inservice and decided he was going to do it.

He had an awesome instructor that outlined how it could be when my fiance was on the road. When I was growing up, my step father was in trucking and I remembered how difficult it could be for my mom when he was gone all the time.

Keeping that in mind when my fiance started school, I supported him all the way through it, emotionally and financially. We are slowly coing to terms with how to handle him being away.

I try to make his life as easy as possible while he is away. I pay the bills and take care of the kids(ages 6 and 12). I have a full time job myself and am studying to take state boards as an LPN, so I keep myself busy when he can't be around.

He calls when he can, and we use video chat on the computer. Sometimes it gets hard with me working third shift and we still go days without hearing each others voices.

We've been together for seven years, and life isn't what it was before he went into trucking, and it isn't always easy, but we have a lot of trust for each other, and still communicate. I always try to make sure I have something special when he comes home for the weekend, whether its his favorite meal, something for him, something for the road, or something special for all of us to do.

He takes time with the kids, and since I work every other weekend, he keeps busy with them on the weekend I work, and we spend my weekends off together, with the kids staying mostly at my moms, because we understand making time for everyone is important.

When he's home, I put the kids special events in the calendar on his phone, and set alarms so he remembers to call and wish them good luck or can call after and ask how it went.

Our lives are slowly getting to be better than they have ever been and without as much financial strain we get along better than we ever have.

My best advice to trucker wives is have patience, take care of the home front, and help your man remember what is important. Make sure he knows how much you love him.