It's me again, Margaret...
Nick and I got back into a truck almost exactly 3 years after we first started. We were out on the road for 5 months, and felt needed at home. Our youngest son, Tom, and his fiancee, Jess, had a new baby, Dale, and they were having a hard time figuring everything out. Over the next 2 years, and 7 months, we all began to have those issues. Starting over at jobs, starting over at home, starting over in our relationships. To quote a really great author, they were the best of times, they were the worst of times. Sometimes none of us wanted anything to do with ANY of the rest of us. Nick loved to talk about all the great things we saw and all the great places we went. I couldn't bear to think about our time in the truck, let alone talk about it. I was distraught at the idea of never getting out of Marysville, Ohio, never getting back out there, never feeling free again.
So, I abandoned everything from our time in the truck (except the dogs!). I don't think I looked at my blog more than 3 times between November 2022 and January 2025. I ignored the LOADS of pictures Nick or I had taken. I stayed away from the friends from that time, who were still popping up on our Facebook feeds. I felt bogged down in the neverending goo of the Everyday Stuff.
In the midst of all of this goopy glop, I had my shining star. My boss, Beth, helped me with everything that smacked me around. She listened to every tirade, gave me good advice, and sent me back out in my bus. I was the Permanent Sub for awhile, until a route opened up in the spring. When we went back to school, Fall 2023, I had a new route in an old bus. I won't lie, that route challenged me. My first route, I had lots of bumps along the way, but by the end of the school year, they were My Kids. This new route was tough for me. By the end of the 2nd year, I felt close to some of them, but overall, I felt like they wouldn't have cared if they had a sub-driver all the time. This was when I started talking with Nick about getting back into the truck.
Once we decided to sell the house and go back out after school was out, a plan sort of fell into place. We worked with Robert's county people to get him better paying job(s), and an apartment. We're still working on the job situation, but he is in an apartment with a buddy from bowling. We minimized what we did for/with Tom & Jess. They are both 24, and want to have their own lives. We have always wanted that, but the more we "help" the more we expect them to do things our way, and the more stress between us and them. We want them to succeed, but their own way. They are working on that, and we are trying to be supportive.
When we got out in the truck, I didn't expect it to be as easy as just picking up where we left off. The company we lease our truck from has a mentor program for new drivers. We participated in it the first time, and learned so much! Since we were away for 2 and a half years, we decided to participate again, so they could help us avoid any problems from recent changes. Our mentors have been wonderful! When we first started out, they were great about offering help, suggestions, answering questions, and just being supportive. As we took load after load, the rhythm came back, and we didn't need as much guidance and hand-holding, and they let us decide when we need them.
I was expecting the rest of "being in the truck" to also pick up where we left it, and THAT was the fly in the ointment.
Nick and I couldn't seem to find the happy medium. There was a lot of sniping, a lot of grumping, and a lot of sighing. At one point, I was glad I was driving on a long stretch of interstate, because if I had to stop to make turns, I'm not sure I wouldn't have shoved him out. I won't speak for my partner, but I'm pretty sure that was the reciprocal mood. I was ready to break into tears most of the time, because if we couldn't make a go of this, we were SCREWED. We have no home, no cars, no way to support ourselves unless we make it in the truck.
SO WE TALKED.
He explained that when he asked me if I had done something, he wasn't checking up on me because I'm stupid. (Yeah, I accused him of that.) He was asking because he had done that. We talked out all of the stupid stuff we had argued about. It sucks to find out that you can spend 40 years hanging out with someone, the best person you know, and still act like an idiot.
NOW, all of that is just to say that I meant to jump in on my blog early in July. Putting up pictures, telling everyone where we went, how cool it is, how cool we are, EVERYTHING! We covered half of the country in the first couple weeks, we were griping and sniping at each other, and we were EXHAUSTED. I could put some ideas together, select a picture or 2, but then I would drop like a rock.
We are figuring out how we want to run, where we like to go, and how best for us to get there. With his support, I can wrangle my thoughts, put them in sentence form, and get them out on my blog so my friends and family can keep up with us.
We aren't perfect people, but we like each other, and he tells me I'm still hot. I guess we'll keep hanging out.
