“Mile Marker”

 “He is already up, the 3am darkness before the dawn is his only peace, the rest of his 14 hour day will be organized chaos, a wanted product by an unwanted man. He is often treated sub human. He rolls on down the highway dodging cars full of distractions with his focus on keeping you safe. Eyes on the mirrors eyes on the road, eyes everywhere trying to deliver the load. He is the American economy on wheels, a product but not a person.”  #HardShellLife

 As a trucker’s wife I face unique challenges on my own, but over the years I have learned to overcome most of them. Tonight we are discussing a rarely mentioned challenge but it’s right here nonetheless. I’m talking about the mid week melancholy that often comes over you when your driver is still out on the road, but you expect them home over the weekend. When the middle of the week slows down to a crawl and it is still days before they come in off the road. At that point, it’s been days or weeks since you’ve  seen one another, and no matter what modern society says, a video chat on a smartphone is no substitute for human interaction. When your driver calls home, you want to catch up on things, and try to be positive. There is nothing worse than feeling sorry for yourself, being negative or adding additional pressure on someone who is working away from home and probably already feeling guilty for all the things they have missed. They focus in on those old “to-do” list items t...